Same Story, Different Guy
by RPGer
Summary: Chapter 66: The Mouse Will Play
1. Ch1: Welcome to Hinata Ow!

This is my first fanfic. There are a few things you need to know before you start reading:  
  
- The story starts from the very beginning, but the time frame has been moved by about 10 years.  
  
- The male lead has been changed from Keitaro to none other than myself.  
  
- I realize Haruka is vacant from the story. I have not been able to fit her into the story as of yet.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this story, except for myself. You may use my character as long as you notify me at RPGer100@aol.com and I'll tell you whetever you need to know for your story.  
  
Now, without further adeu:  
  
* * * Chapter I: Welcome to Hinata... Ow! * * *  
  
Thursday, 6/14/2007 -- Journal Entry  
  
Wow. I can't believe I finally graduated from Coastal Carolina University. These last four years were some of the hardest of my life. At least I didn't have to rely on student loans that I would end up paying off for the rest of my life. Of course, my lessons are far from over. About two months ago, I found a site on the internet that I never expected to find and one that I have been visiting regularly ever since. This site was the OSW: The Online School of Wizardry. For these last two months, learning how to cast spells have taken up most of my time. Despite this, I have somehow been able to keep my *ahem* talents hidden from everybody (as far as I know).  
  
Anyway, recently I found an article on the net about an opening for a hotel manager in Japan. I figured that since I was planning to go into business anyway--with my newly gained degree in accounting and all--that might be a good place to start. After e-mailing the place with my interest in the job and my resume, they e-mailed my acceptance and certification of my position. After the rush I was feeling from getting a job I could really get into died down, problems started coming up in my head, not the least of which was the problem of how to get there. Researching a teleportation spell would be simple enough, but actually performing the spell might be another matter entirely. Other things might come up, but getting a ride is my first concern. Also, getting my stuff there would be something I would need to take care of, but I'm sure I will be able to solve this problem without too much trouble.  
  
* * *  
  
Sunday, 6/17  
  
A couple walked by the gates of a Japanese hotel. It was a beautiful, summer day. Without a care in the world, the couple took in the wondrous scenery. Unknown to them however, something would arrive that would change the lives in the house forever. Out of the western skies, a small ball of light appeared approaching the front gates of Hinata. Had it not been 2:00 in the afternoon, it might have been mistaken for a street light, even a moving one. The sphere stopped at the front door and slowly grew to seven feet in diameter. Then, as quickly as it appeared, the glowing orb dispersed, revealing a man in his early twenties with some luggage. After taking some time to get his bearings, he lifted up his bags with surprising ease and with a motion of his hand the front door opened before him.  
  
After finding the landlord's room to drop off his things--assuming that's where he will be staying--he spent the few minutes walking around the place looking for the kitchen, bathroom, and so on. The entire time he noticed that the hotel was strangely silent. He started wondering where everyone was, but he figured he would meet them soon enough. Eventually, he found a place that he found intriguing: a hot spring. Of course, he hadn't expected to find such a thing here, but he wasn't complaining. "This would be a good place to relax later on," he thought. His trip to Hinata has left him a bit spent, and a dip in a hot spring would help him get his energy back. After looking over the rest of the hotel, he changed into his swim trunks, grabbed his eyeglass case and blindfold and headed back to the spring. Wearing the blindfold while in the bath would help him clear his mind and go into a trance, during which he would recover faster than if he was just lying around. Also, being blinded for a time would help him strengthen his listening skills (God knew he needed it).  
  
After about half an hour, something caught the man's ears just as he was coming out of his trance. He couldn't be sure what the noise was, but he was eager to find out. Not so eager to get out of his comfortable position to look, but he kept his ears open and his blindfold covering his eyes so he could focus better. Eventually, he could recognize the sounds as voices--female voices. This got him a bit concerned, wondering what might happen if some girls found a stranger in their house, much less the bath. Despite this, he did not move from his position knowing that he would get found out sooner or later anyway, and he figured he might as well take his lumps now and get it over with. Also, it was at this point that he realized two things that he should be thankful for. First, he was thankful for the fact that had remembered to cast a language comprehension spell not an hour before. Being from the United States, he was not exactly fluent in Japanese. Second, him wearing a blindfold might be the one thing that saves his live from the wrath of a few women scorned.  
  
The faint voices grew more distinct as time went by. Eventually, he could make out the words being said:  
  
"…so, when is the entrance exam go to be, anyway?" the first voice said.  
  
"In two months," a second voice responded.  
  
"Are you going to be studying the whole time?" a third, younger voice asked.  
  
"Probably," the second voice said.  
  
"Well, you can worry about study time later. Hey, who's up for a dip in the springs?" the first voice asked.  
  
"Yeah, sure," the other two said.  
  
"Uh oh," the man thought when he realized that he was about to have some company.  
  
The voices faded out after a few minutes and he wondered what those girls were like and he hoped he would find out under more reasonable circumstances. He also hoped they were not quick to violence, or he might not live long enough for those reasonable circumstances to present themselves. Suddenly, the sound of approaching footsteps jarred him out of his thoughts to concentrate on the matter at hand. Still wearing his blindfold, he wondered which girl was approaching, how long it would take to notice him for who he was and what her reaction would be.  
  
"Oh, I thought I would be the first one here," the girl said. The guy noticed a hint of surprise in her voice. He was a bit shocked as well, being that she did not recognize him right away as, well, a guy. He figured that either the girl, whose voice he recognized as the one studying for a test, did not get a good look at him (which was quite possible considering he was in the water up to his neck) or her vision was as bad as his own, but he decided to keep his mouth shut either way.  
  
"Oh well, we can just sit and talk until the others get here." the girl said.  
  
"Who does she think I am?" the nervous man thought. He heard the splash as the girl entered the spring and moved towards him. At this point, he figured his unintentional ruse would not last much longer.  
  
"Hey, what's with the blindfold? Did something happen to your eyes just now, or what?"  
  
As she reached to remove to blindfold, he grew even more scared, but decided to remain silent for fear of personal injury, one of the reasons he kept the blindfold on in the first place. When she removed the blindfold, he reluctantly opened his eyes to a startling sight; she was completely nude. From his limited vision, he could see beautiful brown hair, brown eyes and a gorgeous figure. The sudden peep show took him by surprise, but with some effort, he kept his composure.  
  
"Hey, wait a sec. There's something different about you," the girl said with a start. "Where are my glasses?"  
  
"Oh no," he thought. His thoughts on her vision have come to pass, but he had hoped to find that out sometime other than thirty seconds before his imminent death. He braced himself for the beating he was sure he was going to recieve.  
  
The shriek of horror that would come from the girl's mouth shook the very foundation of Hinata and the last thing the guy saw was the girl's fist coming toward his face.  
  
It took three hours for the victim to regain consciousness. When he woke up, he realized that he was indoors. The iron-fisted girl and her friends must have carried him there. Next to him was his eyeglass case, so he put them on and looked around. He was alone in what appeared to be one of the bedrooms. Just whose it was he couldn't be sure. The door was closed, which gave the impression of being locked up before a trial. There was also a ragged-looking hole in the floor. Walking over to it, he looked down into the room below. To his surprise, he saw his luggage where he had left it when he first got there. "How could I have missed the hole before?" he said to himself.  
  
"So you finally woke up," a familiar voice said from the doorway.  
  
The guy, still woozy from just waking up and suddenly realizing he had a splitting headache, looked over and saw the same girl who smashed his face in back at the hot spring standing in the doorway. Fearing for his life, he backed into a corner. "Please don't hurt me again!"  
  
"I won't," she said. "I'll let you live until you explain why you're here."  
  
"I heard there was an opening for a manager here and I wanted to get some business experience, so here I am."  
  
"A likely story. Do you even realize what this place is?"  
  
"I heard this place was a hotel."  
  
"Well, your half right."  
  
"What do you mean?" The nervous expression on his face was plain to see.  
  
"This is a dorm," the girl answered. "A girl's dorm."  
  
Upon hearing this, the unfortunate man's heart fell into his stomach and he wished he was still unconscious, but that wish might end up being granted. Permanently. "I'm going to die now, aren't I?" he said, fearing the worst.  
  
"Not yet. I'm going to take you to the living room and let all the girls get a piece of you."  
  
"Wonderful," he thought, "I'm going to be tortured and killed my first day here." As she walked over to grab his arm, he said "Wait! I should at least know the name of my executioner!"  
  
"The name's Naru. How about you?"  
  
"Sean, but right now it might as well be…"  
  
Upon hearing Sean's name, Naru stopped dead in her tracks. "Hold on. Did you say Sean?"  
  
"Yeah. What are you waiting for? If I'm going to die, just do it, already and stop prolonging the inevitable!"  
  
"That sounds like an American name."  
  
"Yeah, what's your point?"  
  
"We were told that there would be a new landlord arriving from the states, but I had no idea…"  
  
"That I would be a guy?"  
  
"Right. We were also told that the new landlord would bring proof that they're supposed to be here. If you have that proof, I'll let you live…for now."  
  
"Comforting. Could I just get to my bags to get it, please?"  
  
"Sure, but don't be too long."  
  
Sean ran over and jumped down the hole like his life depended on it--mostly because it did. He landed next to his bags and franticly searched through them for proof of position. After going through most of his bags inside and out, he realized that he had left it back home in the states and almost dropped dead where he stood. Thinking quickly, he decided he would try to magically bring it there, but he would have to be very discrete about it so Naru wouldn't notice it. The last thing he needed right then was for her to find out he could use magic. He opened his last bag, started searching through his things while secretly gathered energy to cast the retrieval spell. While his hands were in a pocket of his bag, he cast the spell and instantly, the paper he was seeking appeared in his hands. Triumphantly, he pulled it out and went to toss it up to Naru, but she had already jumped down while he was occupied with his search. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he handed the paper to Naru for her approval, making sure to hide his left hand, which was still faintly glowing from the energy of the spell, crossing his fingers all the while.  
  
After reading the document for a minute, Naru nodded approvingly, provoking a sigh of relief from Sean.  
  
"I guess you're the real deal, Sean," confirmed Naru. "I never thought a pervert like you would end of being the new manager."  
  
"'Pervert?!' Unless I'm mistaken, it was you who removed the blindfold, not me."  
  
"Right, right. Anyway, you had better watch your step or you might…"  
  
"…get my butt kicked by a bunch of angry women?"  
  
"Exactly."  
  
"Um, does anybody else know I'm here? Cause I heard three of you talking before you found me."  
  
"No, just me."  
  
"How did you get me from the hot spring all the way to your room be yourself?"  
  
"I'm stronger than I look."  
  
"Should have known as much. I found that out first hand." This made Sean remember his injuries. "I've still got a headache from the blow you gave me."  
  
"Yeah. You should probably rest up a bit before you meet the other girls."  
  
"Just curious, but how many girls live here?"  
  
"Five, including myself."  
  
"Okay. When should I expect to meet the others?"  
  
"Probably at dinner," Naru looked at her watch, "which should be in about an hour."  
  
"Alright. I guess I should use that time to get ready and unpack."  
  
After Naru left, Sean changed into his usual indoor outfit--sweatpants and a t-shirt--and started to unpack his things. By the time Naru came back to call him for dinner, he had set up his bed, unpacked most of his clothes, and took care of his headache.  
  
"I see you have already made yourself at home."  
  
"Seems that way."  
  
"It's time to meet your other tenants."  
  
"Are they all as pretty as you?"  
  
Naru shot him a look that would have stopped a rhino in its tracks.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"I'm sure. Let's go."  
  
As they walk down the hall to the kitchen, a thought came up in Sean's head. "You said before that you were studying for a test in a couple months."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"I would be glad to help you out with your studies. That is, if you want me to."  
  
"We'll see."  
  
"Suppose we will." With that they entered the kitchen to introduce the new manager to the girls.  
  
* * *  
  
Sunday, 6/17 -- Journal entry  
  
Well, I finally made it to my new job. And boy, was I in for a surprise. It turns out that this "hotel" is actually a girl's dorm. Most guys could only dream for something like this, but for me, that dream might turn into a nightmare. This is just my first day here and I have already been knocked out by one of the girls. After I came to and provided proof of my new position to my assailant, my death sentence was lifted and I was introduced to the other girls at dinner. All of the girls are beautiful, but they have their quirks, but I'm one to talk about being strange.  
  
The first one I want to mention is Naru, the first one I saw, or should I say, the first one who found me. I swear, she must have fists made of solid steel! I found this out the hard way. Besides her punching skills, she also is a talented student and is trying to get into Tokyo U, which I hear is a very hard thing to do, but I wish her the best of luck and I offer any help she may need in her studies.  
  
Next was Mitsune (Kitsune?), Naru's best friend. From what I heard, she enjoys her sake and sometimes gets out of hand when she's drunk. She seemed to take great interest in my business degree. I should be careful not to find myself alone with her. Probably the most interesting thing I noticed about her was that she always has her eyes closed. It makes me wonder how much she actually sees.  
  
Suu is a strange one, not unlike myself. She loves tinkering around with inventions, which is odd for a girl in junior high, but it's something that I might like to get involved in. I just wonder who would get freaked out by the other's behavior first, me or her.  
  
Motoko is a girl I should steer clear from. She always has a sword by her side and she's not afraid to use it when necessary. I just hope she doesn't slice me in half.  
  
Last, but certainly not least, there's Shinobu. She's the youngest girl in the house, just entering junior high. She's become the house's cook and apparently, she's very talented at making meals. However, I may not enjoy her cooking for too long, being as I made a ring before I showed up here that holds certain magical properties. After wearing the ring for a week, I no longer need to eat or drink and my need for sleep is reduced to two hours a night.  
  
For now, I will try to keep my magical abilities under wraps, for they might cause an ugly scene. In any case, I had better watch my step or else my stay here at Hinata will come to an swift and painful end.  
  
* * * End of Chapter I * * *  
  
Thank you for reading this. I would appreciate honest responces; that's why I'm doing this in the first place. I will not post the second chapter until I get responces from five different people. 


	2. Ch2: Workings of a Fragile Mind

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this story, except for myself. You may use my character as long as you notify me at RPGer100@aol.com and I'll tell you whetever you need to know for your story.  
  
I know I said I wouldn't post this chapter until I get five responses, but there is something I must address:  
  
To Artful: What do you mean "Self-gratification?" (Also, what the heck is a twink?) I have been trying to as honest as I can as to how I would react and so forth. What I said at the summary about me being a 20-something year old nerd before, well I meant it, even though Keitaro and I don't have a lot in common. For example, I can't draw worth a darn, I'm actaully good in school, and I can be a pretty good actor at times--as you will soon see. I also wanted to be realistic in the reactions of the girls. Oh, and if you really wanted my character to be sane, then you won't like this chapter at all even if the plot does gets better. If this was truly self-gratification, why would I let myself be the target of a Naru-punch?  
  
As a side note, I don't know exactly how each girl addresses each other (-san, -chan, -sempai and so forth), so I left that out.  
  
Sorry for being so long-winded. On with the next chapter!  
  
* * * Chapter II: Workings of a Fragile Mind * * *  
  
Sunday, 6/24 -- Journal Entry  
  
Man, what a rough week I had! These girls have been putting me through hell and back. They have made clean the entire place inside and out--and that was just the second day. On top of that, I have been beaten up, mostly by Naru no doubt, at least once each day, sometimes--well most of the time, actually--upwards of three or four times. This is putting a strain not only on my body, but on my mind as well. Most of my mental anguish comes from the fact that most of the time, I'm in the bath wearing my blindfold when it happens--that being the case, I can't be too sure of actually who's hitting me--so I usually have no idea of what I've done to provoke such anger, or any chance of defending myself for that matter. Perhaps it's just my presence there alone that causes it but I have no way of proving that. Also, Suu's habit of kicking me in the head in lieu of a greeting and Motoko's attempts to cut me in two haven't helped. After every beating, when I get to my room, I use magic to heal my wounds, making sure to keep my bruises and cuts visible so I won't cause suspicion. I should consider myself lucky I haven't encountered any broken bones, mostly because I can't be sure if my magic would work as well on that, but I can't count on my good fortune to last indefinitely.   
  
On a more positive note, I have so far hidden my talents from the others. Unfortunately, most of the spells that I am eager to try would blow my cover. Sometimes, Naru pokes her head in to see what's going on, but I have strategically positioned myself with the screen of my laptop facing away from the gaping hole in the ceiling, so I don't have to worry about her catching me in the act--at least for now. I just think that one of these days, I will have to tell the others what I have doing in my room all this time, but I hope that day doesn't come soon.  
  
* * *  
  
Friday, 6/29  
  
Over the course of Sean's twelve days at Hinata, he has gotten thrashed at least two or three dozen times. This has proceeded to wear away at his self-confidence bit by bit until he had almost given up hope of a peaceful existence. However, on this day, Sean was determined to not do anything wrong the whole day. Sure, in the back of his mind, he knew his chances of escaping the day without bruises were slim to none, but he had strangely high optimism that day. He had planned on getting up early, bathing, and shutting himself up in his room the whole day, avoiding everyone if possible, and would not open the door for anything except for the meals Shinobu would bring in. Even though he doesn't actually need them, he would accept and consume them so as not to arouse suspicion.   
  
At 6:30, he set out for the hot spring both to cleanse himself and to try to calm his shattered nerves. He had come to expect anything to come from anywhere, so he became overly cautious and paranoid over time. One thing that he had not realized, however, was that when you wear a blindfold, it is very easy to lose track of time. After what felt like half an hour (he had actually been there for two whole hours, partially due to the fact that he had unknowingly fallen asleep for an hour), he started hearing faint voices. Suddenly remembering his plans for the day, he rushed out of the spring and dashed for his room. Unfortunately, he had forgotten to remove his blindfold, so he didn't get far before he ran headlong into something. That "something" ended up being Naru heading for the bath herself and Sean inadvertently ran right into her, knocking both of them down with Sean landing headfirst right between her breasts. Infuriated, she picked him up and delivered a blow that sent him flying into the kitchen where his back squarely hit the wall next to the refrigerator; so much for his plans for a peaceful, violence-free day. At the point of impact, Sean thought he heard something snap, but he didn't think it was his back. No, this was something much worse, and magic would not be able to cure the injuries he had suffered this time around.  
  
After hitting the wall, Sean landed lying face down. Shinobu was making breakfast at the time and when she heard the impact, she turned for a moment, then went back to her cooking. The Amazing Flying Sean has made many appearances before, so the girls didn't drop whatever they were doing to see if he was alright after a while. Normally, he would just get up from his landing point (wherever that may be) and stagger back to his room. Sometimes, he had barely enough energy to get there before he passed out. This time however, he didn't get up right away. In fact, he spent the better part of hour without moving an inch.  
  
While eating breakfast, nobody, especially Naru, paid much attention to the injured man, assuming he was just trying to get attention or something. However, Shinobu, who had been there the entire time he was, couldn't help but wonder about his condition. After the rest of the girls left, Shinobu began wondering if he was even conscious. She went over to him to see what was wrong. "Are you okay?" Sean didn't even move, much less give a response. She knelt down, putting her hands on his shoulders, and repeated herself. "Are you alright?"  
  
Feeling Shinobu's hands on his shoulders must have sparked something within Sean's brain, for he immediately sat up onto his knees, grabbed her by the waist and moved her head to within three inches from his, staring straight into his eyes (or at least she would be if he wasn't still wearing the blindfold). After a moment of uneasy silence, Sean lifted his blindfold from his eyes and looked straight into hers. To Shinobu's, horror, his normally green eyes have turned a deep red. "Don't… touch me," was all he said before he stood up and walked out of the kitchen, leaving Shinobu kneeling on the floor; the shocked expression never left her face.  
  
Finding the maintenance closet, he found some boards, a hammer and some nails. He carried them back to his room, being careful to avoid the girls whenever possible. After getting to his room, he changed, proceeded to bar the door shut and, using his table, plugged up the hole in the ceiling. "No one can see me like this." he muttered to himself. Lunch was strangely solemn that afternoon. Shinobu's cooking was delicious as always, but the others could tell something had taken away the joy of her art.  
  
"Is something wrong, Shinobu?" Kitsune finally said.  
  
"It's about Sean," Shinobu responded in a tone that did not suit her normally cheerful personality. "I think there is something very wrong about him."  
  
"There's always something wrong about him," Naru chimed in.  
  
"No. I think something is REALLY wrong with him today. After breakfast, he was still lying there. He had been there for an hour without any movement whatsoever."  
  
"That does seem odd," Kitsune said. "Now that I think about it, he usually gets up pretty quickly."  
  
"I know. That's what got me worried. I asked him what was wrong, but he didn't respond. As soon as I touched his shoulders, he grabbed me and after removing the blindfold, looked me straight in the eye. That's when I knew something was really wrong."  
  
"So he looked at you weird and locked himself in his room," Motoko said, without a hint a concern showing on her face. "So what?"  
  
"It wasn't how he looked at me. It was his eyes themselves that caught my attention. You see, his eyes changed. He used to have green eyes, right? When he looked at me earlier, they were blood red."  
  
This caused a collective gasp from the group. Even Naru and Motoko couldn't help but react to this bit of news. "Naru, I think you may have crossed the line this time, and I think it would be best if we avoided him for a while until he gets back to normal." Shinobu finally said. Nobody dared disagree, but they couldn't help but wonder how Sean was doing.  
  
From outside Sean's room, all you could hear was incoherent mumbling. Occasionally, one of the girls would try to open the door or ask him what was going on, but there was wither no response or Sean yelling out, "Leave… me… ALONE!!!" This only deepened the concern the girls had for their troubled landlord.  
  
Even Naru, who felt more animosity toward the supposedly-perverted man than anyone else, started to think she had gone too far with the way she was treating him, but she wouldn't dare reveal this to the others for fear that they might mistaken her regret for possible adoration towards him which, she admitted to herself, was beginning to develop, but she had no idea why. When she got to her room, she noticed the hole had been covered from underneath with what appeared to be a table. She could see the nails sticking up through the floor and knew whatever he was doing down there, he did not anyone to know, especially her. She could only wonder what the ramblings coming up through the floor were about.  
  
For the first couple of hours of his confinement, he just sat on his bed muttering to himself. After a while though, inspiration struck. He knew what he had to do. He grabbed the binder that he used to hold his spells, found a clean page and started jotting down strange symbols. To the untrained eye, it would seem he was just doodling, but what they would not know was that he was actually creating a spell from scratch, something he had never done before in his short time as a wizard.  
  
I took until about 8:00 that night to finish the biggest spell he had ever written down. Satisfied with his work, he set down to perform the incantation, being careful not to make too much noise and draw attention to himself. He knew it would take a while, if the amount of paper he had used was any indication. All the while, he envisioned the reactions on the other girls' faces, which made him all the more determined to complete the spell.  
  
Sean finally finished the spell at 1:00 in the morning. He had used up a good portion of his energy to cast it, but he knew it would be worth it when the others woke up. Happy with what he did, he finally laid down to get some rest, the shocked faces of the girls accompanying him into a deep sleep.  
  
* * *  
  
Saturday, 6/30  
  
Sean woke up well before everybody else and checked to see if his spell had taken hold. Satisfied, he magically removed the nails that held the boards in place against the door and the table against the hole in the ceiling, being as quiet as he possibly could so as not to wake up Naru and ruin his plans. After putting the boards, hammer and nails back into the storage closet, he set out for the bath with his blindfold and awaited eagerly for the screams of the others when they woke up.  
  
Motoko was the first of the girls to wake up, which was almost always the case, and prepared to do her morning exercises. It took her a little while to realize she was completely nude. She thought this was strange, since she could have sworn she was clothed when she went to bed. She walked over to her closet to put on one of her outfits, but her jaw dropped when she saw that all her clothes were gone. She looked in her dresser as well, but all of the drawers were empty as well. She let out a scream that could have woken up the dead, or at least the other girls.  
  
When Sean heard the scream, he knew his spell was a complete success. The spell he had spent so much time preparing and casting had one objective: make all of the clothes in Hinata vanish without a trace. He was aware that everyone would no doubt accuse him--makes sense, since he was the one who did it--so he included his own clothes in the vanishing act to cover his tracks. The blindfold would come in handy more than usual that morning what with the naked girls running around like chickens with their heads cut off and seeing them would probably make them angrier than they already would be. He also wanted to his eyes hidden, since they were still glowing red.  
  
Motoko's scream woke everyone with a start. When they realized that all of their clothes were gone, including the outfit they wore to bed the previous night, Hinata exploded with activity, trying to find the culprit. Naturally, Naru pointed the blame at Sean without giving it a second thought. "That no good pervert is always up to something," she said to herself. "And just when I was starting to feel sorry for him, too." Since he wasn't in his room, Naru could only think of one other place he would be and she rushed out to the hot spring, dragging anyone she saw with her.  
  
Sean knew what was going to happen, and he had spent the last couple hours rehearsing what he would say in his mind. He just had to wait until Naru…  
  
"SEAN, YOU BASTARD! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO?!"  
  
Show time. Sean "looked" up in the direction of her ranting and heard footsteps as Naru started to run over to deliver the final blow. He had to speak up quickly. "What happened? Did your clothes vanish too?"  
  
Upon hearing this Naru skidded to a halt and almost fell into the water. "You mean your clothes are gone too?"  
  
Sean only responded by standing up in the water that had been almost up to his shoulders and revealed that he too was nude. He let the reality sink in before sitting down again. "You can turn my room inside and out if want to, but whoever took your clothes took mine too, but come right back when you're done. I think I have an idea for how do deal with this."  
  
A thorough search of his room proved him right. There wasn't a scrap of clothing in all of Hinata and everyone reconvened at the hot spring to hear Sean's idea. "Listen. I know some of you don't like me. I can think of one person who probably wants me dead." Everyone knew he was talking about Naru. "This must be some kind of prank someone's playing on us. Perhaps to get me in trouble with you again or something. I say we look at the positive side of this."  
  
"What positive sides are there?! All our clothes are gone!" Naru spoke the instant she heard it.  
  
"I was getting to that." Sean had to focus a bit to keep a tone of voice that wouldn't be considered demonic. "First, it's a warm, sunny day. Second, did anyone have any plans that involved leaving Hinata?" He waited for a response.  
  
After a moment of thought, everyone pretty much gave the same response. No one had anything big going on that day.  
  
"See? We should just spend the day together enjoying each other's company." As an afterthought, Sean added, "And in case you're wondering, I will be keeping the blindfold on, so you don't have to worry about me seeing anything."  
  
His words seemed to calm the girls. Even Naru had to admit that his idea was a pretty good one. "He can actually be kind of a nice guy once in a while." she thought.  
  
Everyone then started to enjoy themselves, chatting with each other, wining and dining--Kisune was especially wining. Everyone, that is, except Sean. How could he enjoy himself with not only the guilt of his actions looming over him, but with the fact that he couldn't do a whole lot while blindfolded and he figured if he did try to do something, he'd probably cause a scene. And so, after sitting silently for almost an hour listening to the girls' conversations, he showed himself out, lifting his blindfold slightly so he see where he was going, but still keeping his eyes hidden from the others.  
  
Naru saw Sean leave out of the corner of her eye. She abruptly cut off her conversation with Kitsune (who was already half-drunk) and left saying she had to get something from her room. She silently tailed Sean all the way to his room, but she was a bit reluctant to follow him in for fear of what he might do. If he turned Shinobu into the wreck she saw at lunch the previous day, who knows what he might do to her. What with the beatings she gave him in the past, he might try return the favor. Nervously, she knocked on the door, hoping to get a favorable response.  
  
"Come in, Naru. I've been expecting you," said the voice on the other side of the door. This left Naru more nervous than ever. If he had known it was her the whole time, why did he seem so oblivious? Was it some sort of trap? Taking a chance, she opened the door and hoped for the best. What she saw was startling. Sean was sitting calmly on his bed, still wearing his blindfold, "staring" in her general direction. She had half-expected him to tear at her throat or something. Naru sat down next to him.  
  
"How did you know it was me?" Naru asked.  
  
"Wearing the blindfold for so long has helped out my listening skills. I heard you following me all the way back here and I figured you were the only one who with any need to sneak around behind my back." Sean's voice started to sound a bit irritated.  
  
"Well, I just wanted to know…"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Um… why did you leave the party? It was your idea, after all. You should at least stay and have fun."  
  
"When you're at a party and you don't do anything for what seems like an hour, what point is there in staying? Besides, none of you seemed exactly eager to talk to me."  
  
"Well, you didn't have to just walk out like that. Why didn't you at least try to have fun?"  
  
"Being blindfolded has the drawback of being unable to see where you're going. If I had tried to enjoy myself, I would probably end up bumping into somebody's breasts or something--with my luck, it would end up being yours--and end up waking up in about a week."  
  
"If that's such a problem, why not take off the blindfold?"  
  
"And get called a pervert again and get attacked? I think I'll pass." Naru was about to ask another question, but got cut off. "It may not seem apparent from your point of view, but I actually have morals." Anger was starting to appear in his tone. "I have gone out of my way to not see any of you naked. I have only seen any of you nude once. Once! You remember when that was? You should; it was that first day when you found me in the bath; and I wasn't exactly the one who removed the blindfold, remember? You think this blindfold is just for decoration? No, my intention was to wear this thing almost wherever I go so I wouldn't see anything I might regret later and to try to prevent personal injury. Lot of good that did me, huh?"  
  
"I guess not." Naru's voice was starting to tremble before Sean's assertiveness.  
  
"I guess not. I made every attempt to protect your privacy and modesty and what do I get in return? Cuts, bruises and an inferiority complex! Have you no idea of the personal hell I have gone through the last two weeks?" Naru just stared in silence. "Apparently not. I have always tried to be a nice guy. I tried to be a friend and not just a landlord. Yet, I get treated like I'm just some guy who came by just to peek at you in the bath and look under your skirts! You know how that makes me feel? Like it doesn't matter whether I lived or died! I just don't know how I can change things for the better right now. No matter what I do, things only get worse. I don't know how much more abuse I can take."  
  
Naru could swear she saw tears appear from beneath the blindfold. "I didn't know that was how you felt."  
  
"No, I don't suppose you would considering you're too busy knocking me halfway across town everyday."  
  
Naru was speechless. Sean had never talked to her this way before. In the past, there was always a hint of fear in his voice. Now, it seems he had just given up on life. Perhaps her beatings have gone a bit too far after all. "Do you think you will be able to get back to the party any time soon?"  
  
"I doubt it. Lately, I've been thinking that I have no right to be around you all. Why would a bunch of nines and tens like you want to hang around with a five like me anyway?"  
  
"Well, I don't think you're a…"  
  
"Don't even try it. It's not going to work. You know what, I think it's high time you left. The others might start looking for you."  
  
"You're right. I hope you reconsider and come back to the party." She started to get up to leave.  
  
"Why would I want to go out there just to see a whole lot of nothing? I could just as easily do that right here."  
  
Now it was Naru who started to get irritated. "Well, you could leave the blindfold here, you know."  
  
"Are you just looking for an excuse to beat me again?"  
  
Naru was startled by his response. "I guess it would turn out that way, huh? Hey, do you even want to see us naked?"  
  
He suddenly snapped his head to face her. "What are you implying? Do you think I'm gay or something?" He then slumped back down and mumbled to himself, "Geez, it's like I'm in the eighth grade all over again."  
  
"No, I don't, I just…"  
  
"To answer your implied question, no, I'm not gay. And to answer your direct question, I don't want to see any of you naked for fear that I would die thirty seconds later either by you breaking my skull open or Motoko cleaving me in half with that sword of hers."  
  
"I see. I guess I'll see you later, then"  
  
"I guess."  
  
While walking back to the party, Naru thought about the conversation she just had. It was nothing like she had expected. Who knew he was in such turmoil? She had to think of some way to cheer him up, but nothing came to mind. She reached the bath earlier than she expected to find that the party had died down quite a bit since she left. Kitsune approached her with a curious look on her face.  
  
"Well, where is it?"  
  
"Where's what?"  
  
"That thing you said you had to get from your room. That seemed to bit too long for you to just go to your room and back. What's up?"  
  
Suddenly she remembered that was the excuse she had used to leave the party. Apparently, Kitsune had spread the word, since the other girls were wondering as well. She knew she had to come clean. "Actually, that's not why I left. I left because… because…"  
  
"You were with Sean, weren't you?" Suu interrupted.  
  
Naru could feel her face turning red. "Um, well…"  
  
"What did you do to him?" Shinobu asked, a look of concern on her young face.  
  
"Nothing!" Naru replied instinctively. "We just talked, that's all."  
  
"Yeah, right." Motoko said accusingly. "He probably saw you, said something stupid and you knocked him out, didn't you?"  
  
"No, nothing like that happened. In fact, he was still wearing that blindfold of his, so he couldn't see anything if he wanted to."  
  
"If what you say is true," Kitsune said, still not convinced, "what was your little 'talk' about, then?"  
  
Naru began talking about the conversation she had to the others, who were hanging on her every word. They didn't want to miss any of the details.  
  
"I told you there was something wrong with him," Shinobu said. "Now do you believe me?" All everyone else could do was nod their heads.  
  
"Is he really that scared to see us naked?" Motoko said.  
  
"Yeah," Naru responded. "It seems he fears the two of us the most because of what we would probably do to him if he did see us. He says he only saw any of us naked once, which was me on his first day here. He came to three hours later."  
  
"Wow," Suu chimed in, "No wonder he's scared."  
  
"Did he really call us nines and tens?" Kitsune said with a slight grin. As an afterthought, the grin vanished. "And did he actually call himself a five?"  
  
"I don't think he's a…" Shinobu objected.  
  
"I said that too," Naru interjected. "It didn't help any."  
  
"But you didn't let me finish."  
  
"Neither did he."  
  
"Did you actually ask if he was gay?" Suu asked.  
  
"No, I didn't, but he apparently found it implied in our conversation, and then muttered something about the eighth grade."  
  
Motoko's eyes flashed with realization. "Ah, it all makes sense now."  
  
"Maybe you could elaborate a bit for the rest of us?" Kitsune said.  
  
"I should have known he couldn't have picked up self-hatred in two weeks. This must have been going on for years. The events of the last couple weeks must have resurfaced some old memories that he didn't want see again."  
  
"In any case," Naru said, "I think we need to cheer him up somehow. Anybody have any ideas?"  
  
"I think I do," Kitsune said with a smile on her face. "If he won't come back to the party, why don't we take the party to him?"  
  
"Are you saying we suddenly appear through his door unannounced?" Shinobu said, seemingly appalled at the idea.  
  
"That's exactly what I'm saying. If he won't enjoy himself on his own, we'll force him to." No one knew exactly what that would entail, but they had a pretty good idea.  
  
At first, Kitsune's idea was rejected, but a better idea could not be found, so somewhat reluctantly, her idea ended up being put into action. As they started toward Sean's room, Naru gave them a warning.  
  
"We have to be very careful. Sean has gotten a heightened sense of hearing as of late. Despite my efforts, he heard me following him to his room. And expected my arrival at his door."  
  
"How did he know it was you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"He said he figured I was the only one who would need to sneak around behind his back."  
  
"It seems he may have you figured out." Kitsune said leering at her.  
  
"In some ways, yeah, but I'm sure there are some things about me he doesn't know about yet."  
  
"I wonder what she's referring to." Suu whispered to Shinobu and they shared a chuckle. Naru heard what she said, but she ignored it.  
  
When the group made it to Sean's door, they noticed it was strangely quiet inside.  
  
"Maybe he's asleep." Shinobu said.  
  
"I doubt it," Naru said. "I have never seen Sean asleep this time of day. Unconscious, yes, but asleep, no."  
  
"Maybe he knows we're here," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, if he didn't before, he does now," Motoko responded. "He can probably hear us out here."  
  
"Not if he's asleep," Shinobu said, "or unconscious."  
  
The girls opened the door quickly to give Sean a surprise, but oddly enough, he wasn't there.  
  
"Where did he go?" Suu asked.  
  
"Upstairs, most likely," Motoko answered, pointing to a small stepladder under the hole in the ceiling.  
  
"Darn," Kitsune said, disappointed that her plan fell apart. "We have to find him. Spread out and search the house! Yell if you find him." With that, everyone left in separate directions in search of their missing manager.  
  
Suu eventually found Sean sitting on the roof looking over the hot spring, still wearing the blindfold. She wondered if he heard them planning their surprise. Suddenly remembering, she yelled out, "If found him! He's on the roof!" This apparently caught Sean by surprise, since he turned his head so fast he almost fell on his side.  
  
Suu, ran over to hug him, but he stopped her. "Stay back! I have something to say, but I'll wait for the others because I'm NOT going to repeat myself."  
  
By the time the others got there, Suu was growing very impatient. "All right, everyone's here. Start speaking already!"  
  
"Okay, okay," Sean started. He paused a bit before continuing. "When I first arrived at Hinata, I had no idea what I was in for. My mind became so cluttered with thoughts of you girls--especially Naru and Motoko beating me up--that I could barely think straight."  
  
"I'm sorry for all the bad times I put you through," Naru said, her face starting to turn red again.  
  
"No. I probably deserved everything I got. At least that's what I started thinking a few days ago. My self-confidence has been all but destroyed during my stay. The only thing keeping me sane was the thought that the beatings might die down after a while, but I now know that will probably never happen."  
  
"What if I start trying to control my temper?" Naru offered.  
  
"After you hear all I have to say, you will probably want to beat me more than ever."  
  
"I'm not sure that's possible," Shinobu said, eyeing Naru.  
  
"I beg to differ, for I know who stole everyone's clothes. I've always known."  
  
"What?!" Everyone said in unison.  
  
"Then why didn't you tell us?!" Naru exclaimed.  
  
"Because that person," Sean answered, "was me."  
  
"But then why did you steal your own clothes?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"So you wouldn't think it was me. I knew Naru would come looking for me so she could punch my lights out, so I started preparing my response two hours in advance. Ever since that last beating you gave me, Naru, something changed inside me. Something that craved vengeance for the actions done to me. I think my sanity had finally left me altogether that day. I have recovered somewhat today, but I am still affected. Here, see for yourself." With that, he removed the blindfold and tossed it into the hot spring below.  
  
A look of shock befell the girls when they saw Sean's glowing red eyes. "That's one reason why I kept the blindfold on this whole time and also why I barricaded my door yesterday. I didn't want you to see the change that had come over me."  
  
"See? I told you his eyes turned red!" Shinobu said.  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "At first, I thought you were just seeing things, but now…"  
  
"Hold on," Suu interjected. "There's still something that bugs me. How did you steal all of our clothes without us knowing? We searched through your whole room and didn't find anything."  
  
Sean sighed. He had hoped it would not come to this. "Well, if you must know, I'll show you."  
  
He started moving his arms in a peculiar manner, the girls staring in wonder. All of a sudden, small fireworks explosions started appearing out of nowhere in front of him. The others just stared in shocked silence.  
  
"I have been able to use magic for almost three months now. The time in my room, aside from recovering from my injuries, has been used researching spells. When my sanity left me, new energy started to flow through me. After trying to think of a suitable way to get back at those who have done me wrong, I made a spell from scratch--something I have never done before--and made everyone's clothes vanish as soon as you fell asleep. I'm sorry I had to include everyone in this. I know some of you have done nothing against me, but I had to be thorough. If I left anyone out, some of you would start wondering why."  
  
"Why didn't you tell us before you could use magic spells?" Naru asked.  
  
"How would you have reacted?" It was a rhetorical question. "I know Naru told you all about the conversation we had. I just want to tell you it was all true. Over the course of the last two weeks, I have feared for my life. Everyday, I kept thinking that might be the day I would do something stupid and my stay here at Hinata would come to an end--one way or another. That's why I either stay in my room or wear a blindfold, but somehow, the beatings still find me. Eventually, my hope for a peaceful existence here fell apart. I try to be good, I really do. For example, I have been trying my best to not see… that," gesturing towards the girls. "trying to keep your feelings in consideration. I now know I should have kept my own safety top priority, but it's a bit late for that now."  
  
Naru could barely keep her emotions in check. "No. It's not too late. We can start things over the right way…"  
  
"No! There can be no starting over. Only an end. And I intend to make that end arrive pretty soon." There was a wave of confused expressions. Sean stood up and started walking to the edge of the roof. Suddenly, Naru realized what he was going to do.  
  
"Wait, don't jump!"  
  
"No. It's better this way. Before, my mind was all cloudy. Now, it's clear and I know this is my only option left, but first, I want to say one last thing to each of you. Shinobu, thank you for all the wonderful meals, but I will no longer be needing them. Also, I really need to apologize for the way I acted yesterday. To be honest, I would have done the exact same thing if it was anyone else. Suu, I'm sorry I couldn't help you with your inventions. It was something I was actually looking forward to, but I guess it wasn't meant to happen. Kitsune, I guess all I have to say to you is try to stay out of trouble, especially if you've had a few too many. Motoko, my only regret is that I haven't been able to take lessons from you. I would have needed all the help I could get to get in shape. Last but not least, Naru. I'm sorry I didn't get the chance to help you out in your studies, but the thing I should feel the most sorry for is taking away the best punching bag you probably ever had."  
  
The girls' emotions started to get the better of them as tears started pouring down cheeks. Even Motoko couldn't keep herself from crying after Sean's big speech.  
  
As he started to step off the roof, he suddenly realized something. "Oh, I almost forgot." With a motion of his hand, everyone became engulfed in a strange fog. When the fog lifted, the girls were shocked to find themselves in the same outfit they had on when they went to bed the night before.  
  
"There. All the clothes in Hinata are back as though they were never gone. I have nothing left to do now except step off this roof and finally end my tortured existence." He said as he took that final step.  
  
"NO! I DON'T WANT YOU TO GO!" one of the girls screamed, but Sean could not tell which one it was by voice and he had shut his eyes in preparation for impact with the ground below, so he couldn't tell by sight either. As his body went horizontal in the process of freefall, he opened his eyes to see a hand reaching out to him, but he couldn't tell who the hand was connected to. This would be the last thing he would see before his head hit, sending his world into darkness.  
  
* * * End of Chapter II * * *  
  
Sorry for this one being so long and ending in such a cliffhanger (Roofhanger?), but if it gets you reviewing and returning (there will be more), all the better. 


	3. Ch3: Lessons in Life, Among Other Things

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of this story, except for myself. You may use my character as long as you notify me at RPGer100@aol.com and I'll tell you whetever you need to know for your story.  
  
"Telepathy"  
  
* * * Chapter III: Lessons in Life, Among Other Things * * *  
  
After what seemed like an eternity, Sean slowly opened his eyes. The first things he saw were some smiling faces looking over him. He said the first thing that came to his mind. "Oh my God, I'm in heaven." A small chuckle rang out from among the faces. As his vision cleared he started recognizing the faces: the five tenants of Hinata-Sou. The look on his face instantly changed from a smile to one of horror. Again, he said the first thing that came to mind. "Oh my God, I'm in hell." He seemed to resign to his fate as a tortured soul.  
  
"So, you finally woke up," said a familiar voice.  
  
"N-Naru? Wait a minute. What day is this?"  
  
"June 17th."  
  
Sean recognized that date. It was that day he first showed up. He immediately sat up in shock, narrowly missing the heads of the girls hovering over him. "What?! That can't be! That was almost two weeks ago!"  
  
"Actually, it was exactly two weeks ago," Kitsune said, the smile on her face grew wider.  
  
"Wha… ?" A look of confusion appeared on Sean's face. After a while, realization set in. "You know, that's a real mean thing to do to someone who just regained consciousness."  
  
"Sorry. It was Kitsune's idea." Motoko said. Eyeing her, who was still grinning.  
  
"How long have I been out?"  
  
"A whole day," Shinobu said. "At first, I was wondering if you were ever going to wake up."  
  
"Speaking of which, why did I wake up? Last I remembered, I was falling off the roof to my death. What happened?"  
  
"Um… well…" Naru started.  
  
"Naru saved your life!" Suu blurted out.  
  
Naru's started to blush. "Suu!"  
  
"Is that so?"  
  
"Yeah!" Suu, exclaimed. "She grabbed your leg at the last second. It was a great catch. But you were still falling, so you swung around and banged your head on the wall."  
  
"Hmm… so that was your hand I saw," Sean's tone became less than pleasant as he moved toward Naru. "If that's the case, then I have one thing to say to you."  
  
Naru was starting to panic. "What's he gonna say?" she thought. "For that matter, what's he gonna do?" The only thing keeping her from running out of the room was the fact that if he did strike her, the others would restrain him, to say the least.  
  
The look on Sean's face got more and more frightening the closer he got, even though his eyes have changed back to their normal color since losing consciousness the day before. He stopped when he got within half and arm's length from Naru. He reached over to the trembling girl and embraced her. "Thank you so much."  
  
A relieved sigh came from the whole group. "That's not funny!" Kitsune said.  
  
"I guess that makes us even, then. You play a trick on me, I play a trick on you, but I did mean what I said just now. Apparently I was not thinking as clearly as I thought I was. Perhaps my eyes were the clue that I should have been restrained or something."  
  
"Since yesterday, when you said you could use magic," Kitsune said, "I've been wondering; what kind of spells do you know, anyway?"  
  
"See that binder over there? That's where you'll find your answer."  
  
Kitsune snatched up the binder and started looking through it. "Telekinesis… Teleportation… Telepathy… Infrared Vision… X-Ray Vision?! I thought you haven't seen us naked except the one time!"  
  
"I haven't! Actually, after yesterday, twice. There are a bunch spells I didn't get the chance to try yet. I usually wait until the situation calls for it to try spells, and the situation hasn't come up to try that one yet. Besides, if you saw me, you would know something was up. I can only put the X-Ray spell on my glasses, like the Infrared spell. When I used infrared, the lenses turned red. A similar thing would probably happen if I put X-Ray on it. Actually, this would be a good time to try that."  
  
"You're going to peep at us right here?!" Naru said.  
  
"No, I'm going to look through the wall. Hand me my binder." Kitsune reluctantly handed Sean the binder. After looking at the X-Ray page a minute, he removed his glasses and moved two fingers slowly across the lenses. The lenses turned a light blue. While facing the wall, Sean put his glasses back on. Sure enough, he could see through the wall into the next room. He focused more and could see into a third room, and kept going until he could see outside. Satisfied with the effectiveness of the spell, he snapped his fingers and the lenses returned to normal.  
  
"Well, did it work?" Suu asked, eager to find out.  
  
"Yep. At first, I could see into the next room, but I kept going until I could see outside. Not bad for a first try."  
  
"Can I see that?" Shinobu asked, eyeing the binder.  
  
"Sure, but be careful."  
  
"Hmm…" Shinobu looked curiously through the different spells, eventually finding a folder with a skull and crossbones on it. "Hey, what's this?"  
  
"Oh, that's sort of my reject folder. The spells work fine and all, but they can be very dangerous and should only be used in extreme situations. I only have two spells in there right now: Fireball, which is self explanatory, and that spell I used to make everyone's clothes vanish."  
  
"You still have that?!" Naru asked in shock.  
  
"Well, of course I still have it. I'll never actually use it again, or at least I don't plan to, but if I start seeing red again," Sean shot a look at Naru. "all bets are off. Besides, it was a breakthrough; the only spell I ever wrote from scratch."  
  
"Ya think you could teach me to use magic?" Suu asked, eagerly. It seemed everyone had the same question in mind.  
  
"I guess it's possible," Sean started, "but it won't be easy. It took me a full two weeks before I cast my first spell. With my limited experience, I don't know how long it would take to teach others. Honestly, I never expected to become a teacher. Ah, what the heck, I'll give it a shot."  
  
"Yay!" Suu was ecstatic. Everyone else seemed interested in learning the art of spell casting as well.  
  
"I'll need some time to prepare, though, this being a spur of the moment decision and all. All those who what to learn and are willing to stick to it, meet me here tomorrow after lunch." As an afterthought, he added, "Also, now that you know about my abilities, I won't be so easy to push around anymore. I'm going to start making active efforts to defend myself, instead of just healing myself in private."  
  
With that, all the girls left Sean's room to their own business, but he stopped Shinobu as she was walking out. "Hold on. I have something to tell you."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"What I said before, about not needing your meals ever again; well, that actually still applies." Sean then showed Shinobu his life-sustaining ring and explained what it did. "I probably would have told you before, but that would have given away my talents prematurely."  
  
"I see. Thanks for telling me. At least I don't have to worry about you starving to death when you holed up in here." Shinobu left, leaving Sean alone with his thoughts and preparations for his first class the next day.  
  
* * *  
  
Tuesday, 7/2  
  
The next day came quickly. In no time, every tenant in Hinata-Sou gathered in Sean's room waiting patiently to start their magic lessons. Sean was seated at his table, working with his laptop, a serious expression on his face; he had to be serious if he intended to be a good teacher. All the while, the girls couldn't help but notice his glasses were tinted yellow. They wondered what kind of enchantment was placed on them. Eventually, Sean closed his laptop and addressed the group.  
  
"Thank you for your patience. That in itself is the first test. If you don't have patience, you won't get very far." He had expected at least Suu to start fidgeting, but she was as silent and still as the rest. "I know you're wondering what spell I used on my glasses." The class nodded. "Well, they now allow me to see your magical energy." He then reached under the table and produced four pairs of goggles, all with yellow-tinted lenses. "I have provided each of you with these, so you can also see the energy that surrounds you all. Naru, may I see your glasses for a sec?" She handed him the glasses and he moved two fingers across them and handed the enhanced eyewear back to her. He then tossed the goggles to the rest of the group.  
  
The girls were amazed at what they saw. Everyone became engulfed in a thin, yellow fog. Most of the fog was very dispersed, but around Sean and Motoko, the fog grew more compact. The confused faces sparked an answered from their teacher.  
  
"I'm sure you understand why the energy is more focused around myself, but as far as Motoko is concerned, perhaps her ki techniques give her a bit of a head start. Nevertheless, after I'm finished, everyone's energy should be just a focused. My plans are for class to start at lunch and should take no longer than till dinner. If you're not able make it, tell me beforehand and I'll try to catch you up at another time.   
  
"Alright, the first thing we'll do is some mental training. The intention of this is to calm your body and mind. When your have achieved this, your energy will change. I will keep tabs on your progress. If, somehow, someone is not successful, I will go into your mind to find what is impeding your progress and I'll see what I can do to help afterwards. Now, everyone close your eyes. Release your frustrations. Free you mind of all burdens."  
  
The class closed their eyes and started to calm themselves, with Sean looking on, noting any changes in the energy fields surrounding them. At first, nothing changed; that was to be expected, but then, about twenty minutes in, he noticed something odd. Suu's aura was acting a bit strangely. Her energy started fluctuating and changing colors. The fog around her finally stabilized into a silvery-yellow color. Sean knew this meant Suu had achieved peace. He was astounded by this; he wasn't sure she had the focus necessary to do this, or at least not this quickly.  
  
Over the course of an hour after Suu's transformation, the others started to change as well. Each student's aura had its own distinct color, perhaps reflecting personality or interests. Suu's yellow-silver mix must have symbolized her passion for inventions and machines, along with her love of bananas. The next one to change was Motoko, which didn't surprise Sean in the least. Her energy became a dull gray color, the same color as her sword. Next was Kitsune. Her aura turned a light red, perhaps she had some hidden love for someone, or maybe that was just the color of the sake she usually drank; he couldn't be sure. Shinubo's turned into a rainbow of colors, mixing and blending together all the while, no doubt showing her culinary abilities. While observing this, Sean was jotting down notes, wondering what color his aura was when he was in that state of mind.  
  
The only one left was Naru. She had hardly made any progress at all in the hour and a half that passed. This got Sean concerned about what was still troubling her. Sean entered her mind to find the roadblock. What he found was startling. He found himself in front of Tokyo U. He could see Naru running in the direction of the building, but she wasn't making any progress. He heard something all of a sudden, and looked in the direction she was running. A shocked expression appeared on his face when he saw himself standing on the front steps, cheering Naru on. All of a sudden, both Tokyo U and himself started fading from view, but Naru kept running, even though it was a seemingly hopeless situation. As he exited Naru's mind, he saw tears streaming from the running girl's eyes.  
  
After his mind came back to his body, he addressed to group once more. "Alright, that's enough." Everyone opened their eyes, their auras gradually returning to normal, but a bit more focused than when they started, with the exception of Naru, whose energy seemed more scattered than ever. "Everyone did very well, some exceeding my expectations. You even taught me a thing or two. Just remember that feeling. You will need that kind of focus in order to cast anything. I think we can conclude this session for now and we'll pick things up again tomorrow. Just leave the goggles here and you can go." Everyone started to get up and leave. "Except for you, Naru. I need to have a talk with you." Naru walked back, sitting beside Sean at the table. Sean removed the enchantment from Naru glasses and his own before he started talking again.  
  
"I think we need to talk about what's troubling you, Naru."  
  
"What do you mean? There's nothing troubling me." She seemed surprised at what he said.  
  
"You were the only one not to get to right state of mind. That means there is something going on, and I intend to find out why."  
  
"Really? Even Suu calmed down?"  
  
"Actually, she was the first one to get there. I never knew she had it in her, but that's not why I asked you to stay." Sean then told Naru what he saw while inside her mind. "This leads me to think you have some doubts about making it to Tokyo U and that, somehow, I'm involved. However, you will never give up, even when you know you can't succeed."  
  
"Actually, I have started to have doubts about Tokyo U. I haven't been studying as much as I had planned to."  
  
"I can't help but feel at least a bit responsible for that, what with the beatings you have given me distracting you from your studies. What I still find puzzling is why I, of all people, appeared in what I saw in your mind."  
  
"I guess now's the time to tell him." Naru thought. Out loud, she said, starting to blush, "Well, over the last few days, I… sorta started getting certain… feelings about you."  
  
"I see." That was all Sean could say. There was an awkward silence.  
  
"This is probably just some stupid thing I'm going through." Naru finally said, trying to pass it off as nothing.  
  
"I don't think so," "Dr." Sean replied. "What goes on in the subconscious mind can be a greater truth than we may ever know. The way I see it, if things continue the way they are, your hopes of getting into Tokyo U might vanish from your life forever, along with myself, leaving you a broken shell of your former self, striving towards an unattainable goal. Perhaps this is a sign that things need to change, at least between us."  
  
"Maybe you're right. You did say you would help me with my studies if I needed it. Besides, you were never such a bad guy to begin with, just a victim of circumstance."  
  
"I know. Not matter what happens, no matter how many concussions you give me, I will always be here to help."  
  
"Thank you." Naru broke down crying and embraced Sean. He knew he had already made progress to solve Naru's psychological problems.  
  
After a long silence in each other's arms, Sean thought he heard something coming from outside. "Hey, Naru," Sean said through telepathy, "I think someone's listening in on us."  
  
"What are you--" Naru started.  
  
"Don't speak aloud," Sean told her. "I'm speaking with my mind. You can do the same right now."  
  
"How can we know for sure someone's there?"  
  
"X-Ray Glasses, that's how we'll know." With that, he slowly removed Naru's glasses as well as his own and added the X-Ray enchantment to both pairs. He then handed Naru's now blue-tinted glasses to her. After putting them on, both of them searched the room for signs of the eavesdropper. Naru eventually found Kitsune in her room next door, her ear pressed against the wall.  
  
"I found her," she said pointing Kitsune out. "What do you think we should do?"  
  
"Punish her," Sean replied. "And I think I know how." With that he started gathering energy to cast the two spells he had in mind. Energy started coursing through the bodies of both Sean and Naru, who wondered what kind of spell was being used. The energy stopped as quickly as it had started.  
  
"What did you do?" Naru asked.  
  
"We can pass through walls now," Sean explained. "On top of that, we're invisible. I say we give Kitsune a scare." Naru nodded in agreement.  
  
Sean got up and walked toward the wall, followed closely by Naru. When he got there, Sean stuck his arm through the wall. Even with his hand right in front of Kitsune's face, she was completely unaware to his presence. Nodding, he stepped through the wall into Kitsune's room, Naru went through right after. They stopped at the opposite side of the room, contemplating the next course of action."  
  
"What should we say?" Sean asked.  
  
After thinking for a sec, Naru had the answer. "Leave it to me. Get ready, this is going to be loud. 1… 2…"  
  
"Wait," Sean stopped her before she got to 3. "I'll remove the spells first; that'll really give her a shock." With a wave of his hand, he ended both spells. Sean and Naru appeared in full view in Kitsune's room, but she was still obliviously keeping her ear to the wall. Sean nodded to Naru, then put his hands against his ears in preparation.  
  
"KITSUNE!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Naru used a tone of voice Sean had only heard her use toward himself. Kitsune, terrified, turned around to see the two people she thought she was listening in on.  
  
"H-how did you get in here?!" She struggled to catch her breath.  
  
"Never mess with someone who knows magic."  
  
"But, how did you know…" Kitsune started to ask, but then she noticed that the glasses worn by both of them had blue lenses. "Oh. That wasn't a nice thing to do, you know!  
  
"Well, eavesdropping on other people's conversations isn't nice either, and I strongly advise you not to do that ever again, or else we might do something like this again." Sean said in a stern tone before walking out back to his own room. Naru soon followed him, leaving Kitsune alone, an angry look on her face.  
  
Back in Sean's room, he and Naru couldn't help but share a laugh. "That was fun," Naru said.  
  
"Sure was, but we shouldn't do things like that too often, or else the others might get us back for it." Sean ended the enhancement to their glasses before continuing in a more serious manner. "With all that unhappiness out of the way, do you think you might be able to focus your energy this time if you tried?"  
  
"I think so." Naru sat down and calmed herself while Sean changed his lenses to yellow so he could check on her progress. After fifteen minutes, he noticed changes in Naru's aura. It became more focused and changed from the normal yellow color to a bright red. It was at this point where Sean knew the talk he had with her earlier had helped her troubled mind after all. After a few minutes lost in the sight of her aura, he figured she had caught up to the others and decided to bring her back. "Naru?"  
  
She opened her eyes slowly, "Yeah?"  
  
"Congratulations, you did it. Heck, you did it in less time then Suu."  
  
"I couldn't have done it without your help." Naru and Sean embraced once again.  
  
"Your welcome." They would spend the next hour in each other's arms, neither one wanting the moment to end.  
  
* * * End of Chapter 3 * * *  
  
Mushy, isn't it? Did you see it coming? R&R See you next time! 


	4. Ch4: Love and the Loveless

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, but Sean is mine.  
  
It's good to know you like my fic, but please respond, Whether it be good or bad. Keep in mind: Don't drink and flame; you could burn the house down.  
  
* * * Chapter IV: Love and the Loveless * * *  
  
While Sean helped Naru through her troubles, Kitsune, still upset over what they did minutes before, set out to find the others and tell them what she heard. She eventually found Suu in the living room, watching television. Kitsune found her chance, but she couldn't tell her right away. No, she had to be careful about how to divulge her information. It was clear this wasn't the first time Kitsune had secrets to tell. "Hey, Suu. How are you doing?"  
  
"Great. That class today actually helped me get some self-control."  
  
Come to think of it, Kitsune noticed that Suu hasn't been hyper since class ended. "Oh, that's nice."  
  
Suu raised an eyebrow. "Did you find me just to ask that?"  
  
"Actually, no. I just wanted to tell someone something and you're the first person I found."  
  
"And what would that be?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just that there might be a relationship forming involving someone living here."  
  
"Really? Who are you going out with?"  
  
"Um, as much as I'd hate to admit it, it's not me."  
  
"Well, if it's not you, then who is it?" As Kitsune whispered something into Suu's ear, her eyes grew wide. "What? Are you sure?" Kitsune nodded. "We gotta tell everyone about this!"  
  
"No, we can't. We can't let anyone else know. We'll just… let the others find out on their own. It should be very entertaining."  
  
"You're right. I won't tell anyone." Suu drew an X on her chest.  
  
"Good. I just hope we don't get found out before they do."  
  
"Alright, see ya later!" Suu bounded off toward her room giddily.  
  
"So much for her self-control," Kitsune said to herself. "Although it was sort of my fault."  
  
"What was your fault?" Shinobu said as she walked into the room.  
  
"Nothing." Kitsune immediately went to her room, leaving Shinobu with a confused look on her face.  
  
* * *  
  
Friday, 6/5  
  
The next few days were strangely calm. No screams, no crashes, no ranting. Everyone liked the peaceful change of pace, but some started to think something was up. Kitsune and Suu knew what was going on; obviously, Sean and Naru knew, but Motoko and Shinobu were completely unaware of the situation, but were starting to wonder.  
  
"Motoko, have you noticed that things have been a bit off lately?" Shinobu asked after breakfast.  
  
"Now that you mention it, things have been a bit too quiet. Naru and Sean haven't had a fight in days. Maybe we should ask the others and see what they think."  
  
"Yeah. You ask Kitsune. I'll go find Suu." Shinobu said.  
  
"Alright." With that, Shinobu and Motoko left in search of their respective targets.  
  
Motoko found her subject of interrogation in her room, listening to music. "Kitsune, did you see Sean and Naru after breakfast?"  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune answered, knowing the questioning would start eventually. "They went up to Naru's room to study."  
  
"I feel there's something different about them lately, do you think so?"  
  
"Not really," Kitsune said, trying to keep a straight face. "Aside from the lack of noise, I haven't noticed anything different."  
  
"That lack of noise is what I'm referring to." Motoko looked at Kitsune in a way that made her skin crawl. "I think you know something."  
  
She suddenly realized she said the wrong thing. "I don't know what you're talking about." She was starting to get nervous, but managed to keep it hidden.  
  
Motoko started to unsheathe her sword. "I think you do."  
  
Scared of what Motoko might do, Kitsune decided to divulge the information she had kept secret for three days. "Alright, alright, you don't have to resort to that, I'll tell you what I know."  
  
"I knew you'd see it my way."  
  
"Well, the way I see it, I think Sean and Naru are starting to become very… close, if you catch my drift."  
  
Motoko was surprised at what she heard. "Do you think they…" Her face started to turn red. "…well, you know."  
  
"I don't think so, but I know there are definitely feelings starting to develop between those two."  
  
"I see. Thank you for the information. You have been very helpful."  
  
"That you for not using that sword on me." Motoko then left Kitsune to her music.  
  
After thinking about what Kitsune told her for a moment, she found Shinobu, a similar expression on her face. "What did Suu tell you?"  
  
Noting the similar expression, Shinobu replied, "Probably the same thing Kitsune did." Shinobu had an easy time getting information from Suu; all she did was bribe her with a banana and she told her all she needed to know. "Sean and Naru being together."  
  
"Exactly. I think we need to find out from the source, though. After class today, we'll talk to them."  
  
Lunch came and went, and class went off without a hitch. Everyone had made very good progress in the three previous days Sean held sessions, and this was no exception. Despite this, things did not get any easier for the students participating. First, there was intense mental training to attain focus, then there was maintaining that focus under stress. The fourth session had the class narrowing that focus to a single point. From there, actually casting spells would be just a stone's throw away. All the while, Sean was writing notes, keeping track of everyone's progress and recording down things that even he never knew.  
  
When class ended, Sean addressed the group. "Wonderful. I think tomorrow, we'll start doing some minor spells, bits of telekinesis and so forth."  
  
"Um, Sempai?"  
  
"Yes Shinobu? And you don't have to call me that. It's a bit too formal for my taste."  
  
"Well… lately, things have been a bit too peaceful around here. I was just wondering, is there something going on?" Naru's face started to blush.  
  
Sean answered in an amazingly calm tone. "Hmm… I don't know how you would come to think that. Unless…" He started eyeing Kitsune, who was nervously backing out the open door. With a motion of his hand, he shut the door before she got there and a padlock appeared connecting the door and the wall; it wasn't going to open.  
  
"Mitsune, do you have something to say to us?" His tone that resembled a teacher catching a student passing notes in class and the lock on the door signified that it wasn't a request.  
  
"Um… well… I sort of told Suu and Motoko that you and Naru… might be…"  
  
"I see. And how did you find this out, Shinobu?"  
  
"Suu told me." Kitsune shot an angry look at Suu, who just shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"I appreciate your honesty. To answer your question, Naru and I have been close as of late, but we haven't been, like, dating or anything. I've just been helping her with her studies is all. Plus, I've been making an extra effort to keep myself out of trouble."  
  
With questions answered, Sean and Naru soon became alone in his room. Sean seemed disappointed in himself. "I should have kept tabs on Kitsune. I should have known she would tell someone."  
  
"Don't beat yourself up, Sean. We were bound to get found out eventually."  
  
"You're right. Honestly, I'm surprised it lasted this long."  
  
"Um, what you said just now, you know, that part about us not dating and all?"  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Well, that got me thinking; what do you think about us starting to go out?"  
  
"Um…" Sean couldn't say any more. He seemed very uncomfortable about that particular topic of discussion.  
  
"We don't have to if you don't want to…"  
  
"No, it's not that, it's just that I've never, actually…"  
  
"Oh." Naru saw this as her chance to be the psychologist. "Why not?"  
  
"Well, I've always had this nagging feeling that if things don't go well, I'll start wondering why I ever tried. Besides, who would want to go out with a nerd like me, except a gold digger like Kitsune?"  
  
"A nerd like me, that's who."  
  
"You're just trying to cheer me up."  
  
"Well, yeah. Is it working?"  
  
Sean couldn't help but crack a smile. "A little."  
  
"See? Things don't always turn out as bad as you think. You can't just give up before you ever start. That's what you told me when I was down and out."  
  
"Well, that was about school. I'm more used to talking about school than about dating. When I was in college, there was no shortage of beautiful girls, but I didn't try to ask any of them out on a date because that's not why I went to college. I went there solely to get a good education. Some guys can't say that. Some guys go to college to party and hang out with college chicks, hoping to get some, but that's not me.  
  
"I've often wondered if I would ever find 'the one.' I've also wondered that if I did find her, I would just push her away because I would be afraid she would reject me."  
  
Naru tried to reassure him. "Don't be silly. You're a nice guy."  
  
"That's exactly my point! You know the expression 'nice guys finish last.' Well, around here, that suddenly changed to 'nice guys get trampled over.' Don't try to deny it. There are two types of guys in the world: bad boys and nice guys. The bad boys, the ones who have tattoos, wear sunglasses and ride motorcycles; those are the ones who get the girlfriends, if even for a little while. Nice guys, guys like me; well, we get the girls as friends."  
  
"That's not true!" Naru was surprised by his logic.  
  
"Oh, please. Nice guys are the ones that watch the chick flicks, the soap operas, and go shopping with you girls and become a walking, talking, shopping cart. We do all this without complaints, gripes, or objections and we barely get so much as a 'thank you!' You think we do this purely out of the kindness of our hearts, but there is more to it than that. The reason we do these things is that we like girls like you, but don't have some supercharged car or a hot-shot attitude to get your attention, so we do these favors in the hopes that you will start feeling the same way about us as we do about you, but does that ever happen? No!"  
  
"That's it!" Kitsune slammed the door open in protest. The other girls were also with her. "I can't let this go on any longer!"  
  
"Damn it, Kitsune, what did I tell you just three days ago about eavesdropping on our conversations? Sorry for swearing, but can't you just mind your own business?"  
  
"Well, we could hear you from halfway across the building," Motoko said in Kitsune's defense. "We couldn't help but hear what you were saying."  
  
"So the only reason you've been studying with Naru is because you like her?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yes! The same goes for those magic lessons I've been doing! The only reason I've been doing these things is because I like each and every one of you, some more than others, but the feeling's still there!" Tears started to well up in Sean's eyes. "In case you haven't noticed already, I don't exactly enjoy being kicked in the head, knocked halfway across town or being a pin cushion! Through all I have been through, I liked all of you, and I have been nice to each of you hoping that someday, the feeling might, even in some small way, become mutual. I just don't know if that day has arrived yet; or if it ever will."  
  
The girls just stood there, speechless as Sean removed his glasses in one hand and covered his eyes with the other. "I think I need to be alone for a while."  
  
"Okay," Naru said, "but if you ever need someone to talk to, you know where to find us." Sean just nodded weakly as the door silently closed.  
  
"Wow, just when you think you have someone figured out," Naru said, "something like that happens."  
  
" I know," Shonobu agreed. "It's as though sometimes he's becomes a completely different person."  
  
"I just wonder what we're going to do about him right now?" Naru asked.  
  
"I have an idea." Kitsune offered.  
  
"No!" Everyone else said. They didn't need another one of Kitsune's ideas.  
  
"Well, excuse me for trying to help." She stormed into her room and shut the door.  
  
"Naru is right, though," Motoko said. "We need to figure out some way to cheer him up… again."  
  
"Maybe we should just leave him the way he is," Shinobu proposed. "And just to be sure he doesn't try something weird, Naru should keep watch from her room."  
  
"That's actually a good idea," Naru said. "You're wise beyond your years, Shinobu."  
  
Shinobu started to blush. "Aww…"  
  
"It's settled then," Suu said. "We'll let him cheer himself up. At least until we get a better idea." Everyone then returned to their own rooms.  
  
Sean would end up spending the next hour and a half in a half-meditation, half-fetal position. He found himself unable to focus on anything. There were just too many things going through his mind, which started to feel like a hockey puck, or a tennis ball, or something like that; he couldn't even focus that. On top of that, being in that position for that long started to wear away at his body. He finally got up with muscle spasms and an stiff neck. "I need to relax somewhere," he thought. And he knew of only one place to find it. He just hoped he was right.  
  
Naru observed Sean's confinement with concern, and after an hour, a bit of boredom, but she snapped out of it when she saw him change into his swim trunks, grab his eyeglass case and blindfold and walk out of his room. She knew where he was going: the hot springs. This sparked an idea in Naru's brain. She ran out of her room, hoping she would find the others before they found Sean.  
  
Sean made his way to the hot spring, a place he hadn't been to in days, since he's been taking showers in that span, and replaced his glasses with his blindfold, which he also hadn't used in a while. As soon as he got in the water, he started feeling better, forgetting why he had quit using the springs in the first place. As time went by, his body and his mind alike were almost good as new. A few minutes later, he suddenly remembered why his trips to the springs had ended…  
  
"Haven't seen you out here in a while."  
  
…and it couldn't have come at a worse time.  
  
"Oh s***!" Sean thought, not bothering to wonder why his brain had censors. He then said out loud, "Just hit me now and get it over with." He prepared himself for yet another flight on Naru Air.  
  
"She won't hurt you," another voice said. "We'll make sure of that."  
  
"Kitsune?! Who else is out there?"  
  
"All of us," Shinobu said.  
  
"S***," Sean thought, still unaware of his cerebral censors. He started to get up, but felt hands on his shoulders keep him in the water.  
  
"You're not going anywhere," Suu said, trying to sound pleasant. It wasn't working. Sean then felt something tug at his blindfold. Suu continued, "Let's just get rid of these…" she removed the blindfold and replaced them with his glasses. "There, that's better."  
  
Sean had his eyes shut tight the whole time, not wanting to provoke another beating. He hasn't been hit for four days, and he wanted to keep it that way. He started mumbling something that resembled "I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die."  
  
"Calm down," Kitsune said, "I said we weren't going to hurt you."  
  
"Hurt is one thing. Killed is another."  
  
"Why won't you open your eyes?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"This is just another form of torture you decided to put me through. Don't you think I've been through enough?"  
  
"This isn't torture, and you will open your eyes." Motoko said in a semi-threatening tone. She never thought she would ever say that to him in this situation and it sickened her, but she had to follow the plan.  
  
"No! I don't want to!"  
  
"You're going to open your eyes," Motoko replied, "or I'm going to pry them open for you!"  
  
"Alright, alright, I'll open them!" Sean nervously opened his eyes. Quickly, he shut his eyes again. "Oh, God." He was the only one there wearing anything. "I knew it was torture! Whose bright idea was this anyway? Kitsune, was it you?!"  
  
"Actually, it was my bright idea."  
  
"Naru?! It was you? I guess punching my lights out isn't cutting it anymore. Now you have to find pleasure in harassing my poor mind. And after all I've done to help you, too."  
  
"It's not what you think."  
  
"Why should I believe you?" He felt hands on his cheeks.  
  
"Look at me." Sean shook his head. "LOOK AT ME!" Sean slowly looked into Naru's eyes. "I know you've been through a lot, probably more than I'm aware of, but we're here to help for a change."  
  
"…" Sean became lost in Naru's eyes. Lost beyond rational thought, or even irrational thought for that matter.  
  
"I think you may have hypnotized him, Naru." Suu said, giggling.  
  
Ignoring her, Naru continued her gaze into Sean's eyes, and vice-versa. "You can't let every little thing get you down. You knew what went on in my mind, even though I wasn't aware of it myself. With this knowledge, you brought those emotions to the surface and provided solutions to my problems. Please, allow me to do the same."  
  
As if on cue, Naru started to enter Sean's mind. The highlights, not to mention the lowlights, of his life were shown to her. She saw the accomplishments--most of which involved school in some way--the embarrassments--most of which involved some public setting outside the classroom--and the downright painful--most of which involved herself, Motoko and Suu.  
  
After seeing these images, Naru found herself in a building that looked like a temple of some sort. Situated on pedestals were portraits of various people, but one picture in particular demanded Naru's attention. At the very back of the room was a group photo of the girls of Hinata-Sou.  
  
"I don't remember a picture like this ever being taken." Naru said to herself.  
  
"I don't suppose you would…" Stunned, Naru turned around to find Sean walking toward her. "…considering a camera was not involved; at least not one you could ever buy in a store."  
  
"What kind of place is this?"  
  
"This is the part of my mind where I remember my family, my friends, my… love interests." Sean pointed to a picture next to the group photo Naru noticed earlier. She was surprised to find a portrait of herself the likes of which she has never seen.  
  
"But, why is there a picture of just me here?"  
  
"Ever since I first saw you, even through my horrible vision, I have had feelings for you, although I was unaware of it. Over time, the beatings you have given me only heightened my desire for you. In some small way, your violent manner only made you that much more beautiful to me. Do not ask me why, for even in my own mind I have know idea how this works. Perhaps my mind has gotten accustomed to the way you have acted, and adapted to it somehow."  
  
"Tell me, Sean," Naru asked, "just how long have you been so… insightful?"  
  
"At least a few years. Thoughts are always going through my head at rapid speed; it has frequently kept me up at night."  
  
"Oh." Naru was going to ask another question, but all of a sudden, the temple, the pictures, and even Sean started to fade. "What's going on?"  
  
Sean's voice seemed distant. "It appears you are being called to the surface."  
  
"What does that mean?!"  
  
"The others must be trying to wake you up."  
  
"But there are still things I don't know!"  
  
"You will become more aware of things as time goes on. As for what you have seen here, it will seem like no more than a dream, except for what has gone on in here, our conversation and these pictures. Whether you choose to remember these moments or not is up to you, but for now you must reawaken. The other girls must be starting to get worried by now if they are trying to jar you back to consciousness."  
  
Tears started to appear in Naru's eyes. "Thank you. Thank you for all you have shown me."  
  
"No. If there is anyone you must thank, it is yourself. If you did not have any underlying feelings toward me, you would have never been able to enter my mind at all."  
  
"Hmm…" Naru nodded as the last remnants of Sean's mind faded from view.  
  
"Naru, why won't you wake up?" Suu said shaking Naru's shoulders. She had been standing over Sean for a good fifteen minutes, seemingly entranced. "C'mon, wake up!" Getting frustrated, she set her mouth close to Naru's ear. "Earth to Naru, come in Naru?"  
  
Naru awoke with a start. "What are you trying to do, make my ears as bad as my eyes?" A sigh a relief came from everyone in attendance with the exception of Naru and Sean, who still had the same blank expression as before.  
  
"Yay! Naru's back!" Suu was jumping for joy, splashing everyone within range, which was, for lack of a better word, everyone.  
  
Motoko still looked a bit concerned. "What went on just now?"  
  
"I can answer that," Sean said, suddenly snapping out of his stupor. "Naru has traveled through my mind, it appeared very insightful for her if I do say so myself."  
  
"Is this true?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Yes," Naru said, getting off Sean. "I don't remember everything about my journey, but from what I do remember, he cares for all of us, especially me, very much, perhaps more than we will ever know."  
  
"So, he was telling the truth before about liking us." Kitsune said.  
  
"To say the least." Sean added.  
  
"I want to look through Sean's mind, too!" Shinobu seemed eager to take the same trip Naru did.  
  
"I'm not sure that's possible," Sean said, "at least not now. For you see, It was not me alone who sent Naru into my mind. The way I see it, the way we felt about each other became so strong, a sort a gateway appeared from her mind to mine. A sort of love connection if you will. I know that sounds corny, but I think that's how it works. Everyone understand?"  
  
Blank expressions lined every face there. "Um, could you run that by us again?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Probably not." After a moment of silence, Sean suddenly remembered what he was seeing. His nervous expression easily read on his face. "Um… maybe I should go before…"  
  
"No, stay," Naru interjected, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I don't mind."  
  
"Well, I do," Motoko said, finally fed up about what he was seeing as well.  
  
"Well, you don't have to be here." Naru shot back.  
  
"Naru, I'm don't think that's…" Sean started to warn.  
  
"Don't bother," Motoko said. "I'm going to my room to meditate."  
  
"Maybe I could join you in meditation later," Sean offered.  
  
"Don't count on it," Motoko left leaving the other five in the bath.  
  
"I gotta find a way to get through that tough shell of hers," Sean said. "Oh, well."  
  
"Tell us," Suu said, "what was it like inside Sean's mind?"  
  
"It's strange," Naru said, "I can only remember one part of the trip. I guess you were right about that." Sean just nodded.  
  
"Well, what do you remember?"  
  
"I found myself in this strange temple, with pictures of his family, his friends… and us."  
  
"We were enshrined in his mind?" Shinobu said.  
  
"Yeah, but that wasn't the most surprising thing," Naru continued, her face beginning to turn pink. "There was another picture; one of just me."  
  
"Wait," Kitsune said, "does that mean…"  
  
"…that I'm in love with her?" Sean finished.  
  
"Yeah. Well, are you?"  
  
"From the first time I laid eyes on her. Sure, I got knocked out thirty seconds later, but I didn't care."  
  
"Wow. Love at first sight does work." Kitsune said.  
  
Sean nodded, suddenly deep in thought.  
  
"What's going on?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I just remembered what you said earlier, about things being a bit too peaceful recently. I think it's about time that stopped."  
  
"What?" Naru was surprised by what he said. "Why?"  
  
"It's not healthy to keep feelings bottled up inside. I found this out the hard way when I went temporarily insane. I believe that holds true for aggression as well. If aggression keeps accumulating without a suitable outlet to release the pressure, the person might explode, not literally, of course, but could very well cause serious injury or property damage. So, if anyone gets mad for any reason, don't hesitate to take it out on me. Somebody should tell Motoko that. She should be overjoyed."  
  
"What?!" Everyone was stunned at this sudden turn of events.  
  
"But what about your health?" Naru asked, very concerned.  
  
"Don't worry about me. I will use magic to protect myself from serious injury. Also, without the need to hide my talents, that will be my outlet, learning new spells and refining those I already know."  
  
"What if we don't have any aggression contained?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Well, in your case, your cooking might be the way you release tension, so you should not have the need to take anything out on me."  
  
"What if we don't want to hit you anymore?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, if that's the case, then I'll just have to provoke you every so often, then. Allow me to demonstrate."  
  
Sean then made a few subtle hand gestures and he began to faintly glow blue. The girls present started wondering what he was doing. To their surprise, they saw Sean's hand start moving toward Naru's breast, but stopped before making contact. "No, there's a better way." His gaze never left Naru, and she noticed an odd smile appear on his face. With a swift deliberate motion, his hand make contact with flesh, but it wasn't Naru's. His hand had grabbed onto Kitsune's breast instead much to the surprise of everyone, especially Kitsune, who started to blush, but it was nothing compared to the deep red on Naru's face. Unlike Kitsune, though, Naru's redness wasn't because of embarrassment.  
  
"WHY YOU…!" Naru yelled, as her fist made contact with Sean, sending him soaring high above Hinata.  
  
Shielding her eyes from the sun, Shinobu said, "Well, it looks like things are getting back to normal."  
  
Kitsune added, "At least he's wearing swim trunks."  
  
As the countryside zoomed out below him, Sean seemed not only unharmed, but also strangely content. "She gets prettier and prettier every day." With that, he vanished amid a display of fireworks, to the delight of all who saw it.  
  
* * * End of Chapter 4 * * *  
  
You know, the way I see it, things are getting a bit too serious in this story. Therefore, the next section will be an intermission feature the mishaps involving the Hinata-Sou crew. Hopefully, this will lighten the mood before I get serious again in chapter 5. See you then!  
  
Please R&R. 


	5. INT: Hinata Hijinks

Disclaimer: I do not own Love Hina in any way, but Sean is mine, or should I say, me.  
  
Prepare for a break from the boring drama that has progressed in the previous couple of chapters. The following short stories will be mostly comedy and action. The events in these stories are in the next couple days after Chapter 4 ends. Also, I should warn you that in this section, the R rating I gave this fanfic will be fully justified. Those of you who do not like topics of a sexual nature, please run away now. I'll wait. ... Alright, those of you brave enough to witness this, enjoy! Oh, before I continue, there is one other thing;  
  
To Niak: That makes complete sense, considering I have played the game for about two years now and it was the inspiration for my... abilities in this story. I have made efforts to put my own perspective on magic, such as the lessons I started giving in Chapter 3.  
  
Now, ladies and gentlemen, I bring to you...  
  
* * * Intermission: Hinata Hijinks * * *  
  
Naru left her room for dinner to find Sean leaning against the opposite wall, a weird smile on his face. "Haven't you seen me naked enough?" She said in a surprisingly calm voice, despite the fact that she knew exactly what the blue tint on Sean's glasses meant.  
  
Sean's eyes grew wide. He could have sworn seeing him with the X-Ray specs on would set Naru off. "Darn, that one didn't work." he said to himself, snapping his fingers, making his hands disappear; something he didn't expect to happen. "What the--" Sean just stared at where his hands should have been for a moment before he started to wonder where his hands would go. Suddenly, he knew exactly what his hands would do if they had a mind of their own, which might actually be the case. "Uh oh, this won't end well. Naru!" Sean ran down the hall, called out to her all the while, hoping to find her before his hands did.  
  
A sudden scream from downstairs made Sean fear the worst. He finally found Naru, who was slowly backing away from something; he couldn't see what it was, but he had a good idea. When he got to her side, he saw two hands floating towards them--his hands.  
  
"There they are," Sean said. "Help me get my hands back before they--"  
  
Too late. Before either of them could react, Sean's hands flew over and stuck themselves up Naru's shirt.  
  
Needless to say, Naru was getting really freaked out. "Get 'em out!"  
  
"How?!"  
  
"There your hands, you figure it out!"  
  
Without thinking, Sean stuck the stubs of his arms into her shirt after them.  
  
"Not like that!"  
  
"You have a better idea?"  
  
"Yeah, get a room!"  
  
"Motoko?!" Naru and Sean said in unison. They had not seen Motoko appear in the hallway.  
  
"It's not what it looks like," Sean said.  
  
"What is it supposed to look like?"  
  
"Um… look, I'll just explain. My hands got away from me." Sean removed his arms to reveal the handless stubs. "Literally."  
  
Motoko was surprised at what she saw--or rather, what she didn't see. "I didn't think you knew how to disassemble yourself like that."  
  
"I don't."  
  
"Hello, hands up my shirt, here!"  
  
"Okay, okay, just let me think of something."  
  
"Be quick about it, will you?! They're fondling me!"  
  
"Let's see… got it!" Sean muttered a few words and the hands suddenly stopped moving. "Alright, put my hands back on my arms before they start moving again!"  
  
Naru grabbed Sean's hands from beneath her shirt and reattached them to their proper appendages. "Now, would you kindly explain why you did that?"  
  
"I didn't try to," Sean answered. "I guess I should really be careful with what I do."  
  
"What do you mean by that?" Motoko asked. "How did your actions cause your hands to come off?"  
  
"I don't know. All I did was snap my fingers like this…" When Sean snapped his fingers, his hands vanished. Naru and Motoko stood slack-jawed and wide-eyed. "Oh, no. Not again."  
  
"Where did they go?" Naru asked.  
  
"They're probably going to go after someone else like they did to you, but the thing is, who's the target?"  
  
"Well, they aren't going after us," Motoko said, slightly relieved. "That's a start."  
  
"That's probably because I'm right here. We have to think of which of the other three girls the my hands would go after first."  
  
A scream solved their problem for them. "Kitsune!" Everyone said simultaneously.  
  
Sean led the way to Kitsune's room. "Let's get my hands off her!" To him, that was a very strange thing to say, but the others didn't seem fazed, so he didn't bring it up. When they got within a few feet of Kitsune's door however, he stopped the others, shaking his head in resignation. "They got her."  
  
"How do you know?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Even though my hands aren't connected to the rest of me, I still feel what they feel. Trust me, they got her. I'm just letting you know now that someone might have to reach into Kitsune's shirt--or worse--to get my hands back."  
  
"Wonderful." Motoko said sarcastically.  
  
When Sean slid open the door, what he saw was startling. Kitsune was lying on the floor, one of Sean's hands up her shirt, the other down her pants. "Close the door!" Kitsune was half-yelling, half-moaning. Sean slammed the door shut without a moment's hesitation.  
  
"What's going on?" Naru asked.  
  
"You want to know what's going on?" Sean said, looking at her in a you-can't-handle-the-truth kind of way. "I'll show you what's going on in there." Sean changed Naru's lenses to X-Ray and produced some goggles for Motoko. Sean's glasses were still blue-tinted, but had forgotten about it in the chaos up until now.  
  
After the three began watching the increasingly X-rated scene in Kitsune's room, Naru couldn't help but make a comment, rolling her eyes in the process. "Should have known she would enjoy it."  
  
Motoko started blushing. "I don't need to see this." She then started back to her room, leaving the goggles behind.  
  
"Um… maybe getting my hands back can wait a bit," Sean said while ending the spell on Naru's glasses as well as his own. "It's obvious Kitsune doesn't want to be disturbed right now."  
  
"I think you're right. We should probably check up on her later."  
  
"At any rate, I'll probably have to wash my hands when I finally get them back." Both Naru and Sean shuddered at the thought of what might eventually happen, then walked off to their respective rooms, trying not to listen to the moans and screams coming from Kitsune's room.  
  
* * *  
  
Over time, Sean made more and more trips to the hot springs as opposed to taking showers. None of the girls seemed to mind him being there, with the possible exception of Motoko, who didn't exactly feel comfortable with about, but opted not to say anything. The main reason for the girls' acceptance was that he continued to wear his blindfold to protect the girls' modesty--or lack thereof.  
  
After a while, Naru and Kitsune, and eventually Suu and Shinobu as well, started taking full advantage of his apparent blindness. They started sporting seductive poses in front of him, without towels, knowing full well he could not see them--or so they thought. Unbeknownst to them, Sean could see everything that was going on. He had recently discovered how to put his glasses enchantments on his eyes themselves without risking permanent damage. With that knowledge at hand, every time he went to the bath, he would put an X-Ray spell on his eyes, so he could see through his ever-present blindfold and enjoy the show without the others knowing it.  
  
This day was no different. All the girls except Motoko, who didn't want to subject herself to that sort of thing, were posing in front of Sean--who looked completely unaware of what was happening--in ways that would turn any man in Tokyo anemic from nosebleeds. After a while, the girls involved grew upset with Sean's complete lack of a reaction, so the seductions went a step further; they started performing lesbian acts that would put some of the best porn films to shame. The whole time, Sean was somehow able to keep a straight face in order to keep the girls oblivious that he could see what was going on, but a certain something else on his body would certainly give away his ruse. Therefore, Sean always kept himself seated in chest-deep water, still wearing his swim trunks, to hide his awareness, not to mention his arousal.  
  
Suddenly, the seducers noticed Sean turning his head, facing away from them and their latest attempt to drive him nuts. "What's going on, Sean?" Naru asked.  
  
"I thought I heard something."  
  
"Where?" Motoko stood up, grabbed her sword and moved near where Sean sat.  
  
"I'm not sure." After blinking, turning off his X-ray eyes, he removed his blindfold, grabbed his glasses and after turning the lenses green, put them on and started scanning the roof.  
  
"What were the green lenses again?" Kitsune whispered to Naru.  
  
"Binoculars," Sean answered without turning his head.  
  
"Oh, right." Kitsune said, wondering how he heard her.  
  
"Hmm…" Sean kept looking skyward. "I could have sworn…" He shook his head. "Oh well." With that he got up to leave, returning his lenses to normal in the process.  
  
"Where are you going?" Suu asked.  
  
"There's things I need to get done."  
  
"Oh no you're not," Suu said, grabbing the back of Sean's trunks. "I won't let you."  
  
"Would you please let go?" Sean started to get annoyed.  
  
"No." Despite Sean's efforts, Suu started dragging him back towards the water.  
  
Sean started begging, "Please, let me go."  
  
"Alright, if you want me to let you go that badly…" Su finally let go, but Sean had a head of steam built up and quickly gained speed in the direction Suu had him facing in the struggle. Unfortunately for him, Motoko was in that general direction. The two collided, sending them both tumbling, arms flailing randomly until they eventually separated before they both hit the wall near the changing room a few feet away from each other.  
  
Sean came to a rest upside-down, his back against the wall. "Ow."  
  
"Oh my," Shinobu said, blushing.  
  
"Shinobu, don't stare!" Naru said.  
  
"Huh?" Sean wondered what the commotion was about. He looked "down" to find his swim trunks have mysteriously vanished. "Oh!" As he repositioned himself to cover his manhood, he noticed something in his hand. "What's a towel doing…" A look of extreme dread appeared on his face. "Uh oh."  
  
Motoko had just recovered from her trip across the hot spring. She stood shaking her head trying to get her bearings. She soon became aware of something light blue in her hand--a certain article of clothing she had inadvertently obtained while herself and Sean were entangled.  
  
"Trade ya," Sean said, holding out the towel that had been worn by Motoko.  
  
"What the--" Motoko just realized she was nude. Rage building up, she grabbed her sword, unsheathed it and ran over, intent on cutting Sean to ribbons. "DIE, PERVERT!!!"  
  
Seeing this, Sean screamed and raised his hands in a seemingly pitiful attempt to defend himself. Suddenly, he started glowing bright blue. No matter how hard she tried, Motoko could not cut through Sean's flesh. After several attempts, Motoko was left a bit winded. Sean saw his chance to escape unharmed.  
  
"Just hand me my trunks, alright?" He said as he tossed Motoko's towel towards her.  
  
After calming down a bit, Motoko sheathed her sword, grabbed her towel in one hand and flung Sean's swim trunks at him with the other, hitting him square in the face.  
  
"Thanks. I think I'd better leave now before you change your mind and make shish kabob out of me." Sean turned his gaze to the other girls. "Oh, and just so you know, I saw everything." He smiled, then vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving the girls there, who looked at each other, wondering what he meant by that last comment.  
  
* * *  
  
Kitsune sat in her room listening to music, working on her something in her notebook. After a while, strange sounds started coming from Sean's room next door, but that had become an everyday occurrence, so she didn't think much of it. When she finished writing, she went to her mini-bar to get a drink. She downed the drink with practiced ease, but she immediately noticed something was wrong. Her sake tasted just like ordinary water. She grabbed another bottle and drank that one; water again.   
  
As she started to panic, a calm voice came from behind her: "Alcoholism is such a horrible thing, you know."  
  
Kitsune looked toward the door to find Sean there smiling. "What did you do?!"  
  
"What does it look like I did?"  
  
"Why did you turn my sake to water?!"  
  
"Well, it's the only sure fire way I could think of to get you to vent out any frustrations you may have been containing."  
  
"Like this, for example?" Kitsune asked, shaking a half empty sake bottle.  
  
"I suppose."  
  
"Do you have any idea what I'm going to do to you?" Kitsune started getting really mad, something that doesn't happen very often.  
  
"I have a pretty good idea. Give me your best shot." Kitsune ran over and punched him in the stomach with all her strength. Sean doubled over from the impact. "Ow," Sean said. "You must have been watching Naru one too many times."  
  
"How could you tell?" Kitsune was the one smiling, now.  
  
"What's going on down here?" Naru said as she approached Kitsune's door. Spotting Sean on the floor, she added, rolling her eyes, "What did he do?"  
  
"He turned my sake to water, that's what he did!"  
  
"I was provoking her." Sean corrected, struggling to get up.  
  
"Couldn't you think of a different way to do that?" Naru asked.  
  
"No."  
  
"Why didn't you just magically defend yourself like against her?" Kitsune asked, starting to calm down, also feeling a bit better after hitting him.  
  
"I didn't know you could hit that hard."  
  
"Turn my drinks back the way they were before I hit you again!"  
  
"Sure. I accomplished what I set out to do anyway." Sean wiggled his fingers a bit. "There."  
  
"Are you sure it's back to normal?" Kitsune asked skeptically.  
  
"Try some and see for yourself."  
  
"No. You try it."  
  
"I'd rather not."  
  
"Why, are you afraid to get drunk?" Kitsune's tone of voice resembled that of a mother talking to her small child.  
  
"A little bit. If I get drunk, I might start flinging spells around like it's the end of the world, which might end up being the case. I'd probably be like Suu when she's had too much sugar."  
  
"Have you ever actually had a drink?"  
  
"No."  
  
Kitsune started to get that smirk of hers that just meant trouble. "I think I'll have to change that."  
  
"I don't see how."  
  
"I do. Naru, hold him down!" Naru, who had remained in the doorway, grabbed Sean by the wrists, catching him by surprise, and forced him down to the floor. Kitsune collected a couple bottles of her strongest sake and walked over to the restrained landlord, bent down and looked him straight in the eye. The smile never left her face. "You're going to drink and you're going to like it."  
  
Over the next hour, despite Sean struggling, Kitsune forced two full bottles of alcohol down his throat. In that time, Motoko, Shinobu and Suu showed up to watch the spectacle.  
  
"There, was that so bad?" Sean replied with incoherent mumbling. "What?" Kitsune moved her head closer to Sean's so she could hear.  
  
"Get this safe with handcuffs off me." Naru had been sitting on Sean's back the whole time, holding him down. Kitsune nodded to her and she got off, letting Sean stagger half-drunkenly to his feet; the expression on his face wasn't exactly friendly. "Thank you. Now if you'll excuse me--"  
  
"No, I'm not done with you yet." Kitsune said, grabbing Sean's arm before he could leave.  
  
"What?" Sean said in a menacing tone. "You already got me a bit drunk, what else do you want?"  
  
"Oh, I've got plans for you." Kitsune whispered something into Sean's ear, who sobered up quickly, a look of disbelief on his now blushing face.  
  
"You want me to WHAT?!"  
  
"You heard me," Kitsune answered, "and you WILL do what I told you."  
  
Sean narrowed his eyes in an attempt to weigh his options. After a minute of silence, he sighed, shook his head and moved to within a foot of Naru, who was wondering what he was going to do.  
  
After glancing back at Kitsune, who had her arms crossed impatiently, he said resignedly, "I guess I have no other choice." He then grabbed Naru by the shirt and pressed his lips against hers, much to everyone's surprise, except for Kitsune of course.  
  
"What the hell are you doing?!" Naru asked, pushing herself away.  
  
"What Kitsune told me to do," Sean said flatly. "and I'm not done yet."  
  
"Kitsune, what did you tell him to do?"  
  
"Touch you where you like it, that's what I told him to do."  
  
Motoko's face turned red. "I think it's time we left," she said walking out, dragging Shinobu and Suu with her.  
  
"No, I want to watch." Suu said, trying to break free.  
  
"No, you don't."  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
Motoko let go of Shinobu and started unsheathing her sword. "NO, YOU DON'T!"  
  
"Um… come to think of it, there's something I need to do back in my room."  
  
"Good." The three girls left the other three alone.  
  
"At least we don't have to worry about them for a while," Kitsune said.  
  
"Why did you tell Sean to pleasure me?"  
  
"Well, I had to get him back for what he did to me just now." Her turned her eyes from Naru to Sean. "Besides, you can't tell me you haven't wanted to, can you?" Sean just blushed. "See?"  
  
"Why haven't you mentioned this to me before?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, it would have been a long walk back."  
  
"From where?"  
  
"Wherever I end up after you hit me!"  
  
"He's got a point there, Kitsune."  
  
"Granted," Kitsune started walking to the door. "but I won't let either of you leave until he finishes what I told him to do, so go do it."  
  
"You can't do that!" Naru was getting a bit upset.  
  
"What," Kitsune said, raising an eyebrow, "are you saying you haven't been craving Sean like he has you?"  
  
"Well…" Naru's blushing face betrayed her true answer.  
  
"That's what I thought. Why don't you just give in to those temptations?"  
  
"We may never look at each other the same way afterward." Sean said.  
  
"You're saying it as though that never happened before. Anyhow, it's not as though you're actually having sex or anything."  
  
"She has a point, Naru."  
  
"What are you saying?!" Naru started to think the sake was affecting his thought processes.  
  
"We have both wanted this in secret. Now that the secret's out, why don't we just get it over with? Also, it's not as though we have a choice right now." Sean started eyeing Kitsune, who just continued leaning against the door, grinning.  
  
"No, you don't, so get started before I do it for you."  
  
"Prey tell, what will you be doing while watching us?"  
  
"Oh, this and that." Sean and Naru had a good idea of what she what be doing.  
  
Reluctantly, Sean and Naru brought each other close and, while keeping an eye on Kitsune, start pressing their lips against the other's. Not long afterward, inhibitions started fading as the two become more comfortable in each other's arms.  
  
Sean moved his hands under Naru's shirt and started unhooking her bra, half-expecting resistance, but to his relief, Naru just continues the lip lock as though nothing had happened. Eventually, they separate long enough for Sean to remove Naru's shirt and bra in one fell swoop. He then resumes kissing Naru, starting at the lips, then moving down her neck and her chest until he got to her breasts; first one, then the other.  
  
Naru was starting to get really turned on.  
  
Sean moved Naru against the wall and continued his mouthing of Naru's breasts, supplemented by slowly placing one hand on the breast not being kissed and the other hand--  
  
---  
  
Suddenly, a pudgy, 40-something year old man come crashing into the bedroom of a young man in his late teens. "Alright, buddy, that's about enough!"  
  
The shocked author/student was sitting on his bed staring at the unexpected visitor, his gaze turned away from the laptop he was working on moments before. "And who might you be and why have you barged into my room like this?"  
  
"I'm your friendly neighborhood censor come to shut you down."  
  
"Why the hell are you here?! Isn't there a Howard Stern Show you should be editing or something?"  
  
"It seems I have a comedian. We've been keeping tabs on your activities."  
  
"'We?'"  
  
"Yeah, I represent a federal agency that searches the web for the indecent, the perverted and the obscene."  
  
The writer stifled a laugh. "And you're doing a great job, too."  
  
"Funny."  
  
"Why have you come for me of all people?"  
  
"This story your writing," The man points to the teenager's computer, the word processor displaying a story based on a popular Japanese manga/anime. "It's becoming too risqué for your audience to read."  
  
"What are you talking about? Who do you think my audience is, 3rd graders? Besides, you're treating this like it's the most sexually explicit thing that will ever hit the Web." I--I mean he--couldn't help but chuckle at the comment.  
  
"Just be more careful about what you write from now on. And just to be sure, I'm going to watch you while you make the next part of this intermission you're doing."  
  
The writer just rolled his eyes. "If you must, but this might take a few days."  
  
"Don't worry about my schedule, just worry about your own ass. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go get some of my stuff out of my car. Don't screw around while I'm out, understand?"  
  
"Oh don't worry, I won't." After the strange man leaves his room, he thinks to himself, "Sucker. I should finish this quickly before he gets back. Now let's see…" as he resumes typing.  
  
---  
  
Sean moved Naru against the wall and continued his mouthing of Naru's breasts, supplemented by slowly placing one hand on the breast not being kissed and the other hand down her skirt. Naru's moans signified she was enjoying herself very much, to say the least; and she wasn't the only one."  
  
As the scene unfolded before her, Kitsune continued to lean against the door, masturbating all the while as Sean pleasured Naru to the point of ecstasy.  
  
---  
  
"Whew. I'm glad I got that done before--"  
  
"Alright, I'm back. Now, you go ahead and make your next little story. Hey, what's that?"  
  
"Oh, nothing." He quickly scrolled what he just typed off the screen and started writing the next vignette. "By the way, what did you bring the sleeping bag for?"  
  
* * *  
  
Sean stood a few feet from Naru's door, waiting to put his plan into action. So Naru wouldn't suspect anything, he turned himself invisible. Finally, Naru stepped out on her way downstairs. "Alright," Sean thought, "I have to do this just right. I don't want her to find out too quickly." He silently cast a spell that would eventually get Naru to release her pent-up aggression.  
  
Naru felt a slight tingle as she headed for the stairs. Looking around, she didn't find anything or anyone around. Figuring it was just nerves (she had been studying pretty hard in preparation for the entrance exam to Tokyo U as of late), she went downstairs to find the others in the living room.  
  
As she entered, laughing could be heard from the group as they turned to face her. "What's so funny?" Naru asked.  
  
Kitsune tried her best not to bust a gut. "I think Sean just played a prank on you."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
Suu was rolling around on the floor, laughing. "Look at your shirt!"  
  
"Huh?" Naru looked down to find that, to her horror, most of her shirt had disappeared.  
  
---  
  
"Hey, I thought I told you to keep this clean!"  
  
"Oh, come on. She's wearing a bra."  
  
"Do you honestly think the readers will know that?"  
  
"I think they can figure that out on their own, but if they can't I'll put in a subtle hint somewhere."  
  
---  
  
Naru looked behind her to find a string coming from her shirt--or what was left of it--leading back the way she came. "Oh, that guy is going to get it now." She then rushed up the stairs, following the loose thread.  
  
"I wonder what she will do to him," Shinobu said.  
  
"Do you really need to ask?" Motoko answered. They all knew there was one boarding for Naru Air.  
  
Sean suddenly noticed the thread he was holding on to go slack. "Here we go," he said as he raised his shield in preparation for his boxing match with Naru. He then saw her reach the top of the stairs, a bit winded, but had fire in her eyes, nonetheless.  
  
"Oh, you have done it, now."  
  
"It's about time, too. I haven't provoked you in quite a while, but it's not as though I haven't tried. Go ahead, hit me."  
  
Naru stopped about ten feet away. "No, I have something else in mind." Her voice seemed to change a bit.  
  
"What?" Sean was surprised by what she said. To his amazement, he saw Naru start preparing a spell. After watching her movements and listening to her incantation, Sean recognized the spell she was using, mostly because he had used it once before--but only once. His eyes growing wide with terror. "Oh, shit." He quickly started preparing a spell of his own, hoping to complete it before Naru did; his regular shield was not going to save him from this. Almost there… almost there…  
  
Naru positioned her hands in front of her and a stream of fire appeared almost as big as the hallway they were in, heading straight for the prankster.  
  
Sean saw the fire coming, but kept his cool (so to speak) and finished his spell just before the flames got to him. A blue sphere encompassed him, keeping the flames at bay, but not for long.  
  
"NO!" Sean's force field started to fall apart under the sheer power of Naru's blast, exposing him to the extreme heat and flames. After a few seconds, the spell ended abruptly, leaving only a smoldering heap on the floor.  
  
After the spell ended and Naru calmed down, she noticed Sean's charred form lying in front of her. She was rendered speechless, a look of horror on her face.  
  
Downstairs, the other girls heard a scream and a sort of "whoosh" sound.  
  
"Oookay," Kitsune said, looking up, "why did that not sound like a punch?"  
  
"Yeah, something's not right." Motoko could sense intense energy radiating from upstairs. Everyone hurried up to see what happened.  
  
Naru was starting to panic. "No, it can't be," she said in barely a whisper. As she approached Sean's lifeless form, she heard footsteps behind her. She started looking around, apparently looking for a place to hide or something.  
  
Motoko was the first to reach the top of the stairs. "What's going on up he--oh my." Her eyes grew wide at the site before her.  
  
The others joined her soon after, stunned at the sight of Sean's overcooked body.  
  
"NO!" Shinobu was the first to break down. Tears forming, she ran over to Sean's side. After examining him for a moment, she switched her gaze to Naru, a combination of fear and anger on her face. "What did you do to him?!"  
  
Naru was crying herself. "I… I…" She was interrupted by a strange sound coming from Sean's body. Everyone was shocked to see a faint glow coming from the injured man.  
  
Sean had lost most of his energy in the blaze, but he had barely enough left to prepare a healing spell. He just hoped he could concentrate long enough--not to mention stay conscious long enough--to complete it in his debilitated state.  
  
The pale glow started at his fingers and slowly spread to encompass his entire char-grilled frame. Eventually, the glow faded to reveal a somewhat less cooked landlord.  
  
Slowly, painfully and with a few groans, Sean sat up. "I wouldn't want to go through that again."  
  
Shinobu's face lit up. "You're alive!" She then hugged Sean tightly.  
  
"Ow! Be careful, I'm still raw," Shinobu immediately let go. "Although it's better to be a bit raw than well done." Sean cracked a small grin.  
  
"How did this happen?" Kitsune asked, still worried.  
  
"Well, I was trying to provoke Naru again. Until now, she seemed unfazed by my previous efforts. You see what I did to her shirt--speaking of which…" Sean glanced over to Naru, who was still a bit shaken over what she did. All of a sudden, her shirt returned to normal. "As I was saying, she got really pissed and I expected her to hit me like she's done in the past."  
  
"So did we."  
  
"Figures. Anyway, much to my surprise, she threw a frickin' fireball at me and my defenses couldn't handle it." Sean continued to look at Naru, his eyes narrowed in curiosity. "By the way, how the heck did you do that?"  
  
Tears were streaming down Naru's face. "I don't know." Her voice was starting to crack. "I just felt this rage burning inside me. Then, I somehow lost touch with myself. Next thing I knew, you were lying burnt on the floor."  
  
Sean nodded knowingly. "I see. This is why I've been trying to get you to hit me all this time; to prevent this exact thing from happening." He then started to get up, flinching in pain.  
  
"Hold on," Shinobu was still by his side. "You shouldn't be moving around in your condition."  
  
"Well, what am I supposed to do, just sit in the hallway all day?"  
  
"No, I'll see to that myself." Everyone was surprised to see Suu, who had just recovered from being scared stupid by the sight of Sean's fried corpse, start walking calmly toward Sean. He started to wonder what she was going to do; Suu being absolutely serious about something doesn't exactly happen every day.  
  
When Suu got close to Sean, she rubbed her hands together and held them out over him. A warm glow radiated from the girl's hands into Sean's body. Moments seemed to drag on like hours as the foreign girl performed the spell on Sean, who just stared at her in wonder.  
  
After a minute of concentration, Suu finished the spell. Sean was amazed to see he had been fully healed. He got up, taking Suu's hand in his, lifting her to her feet as well.  
  
"Thank you, Suu. I don't know how long it would have taken me to recover on my own."  
  
Suu's race returned to the happy one everyone knew so well. "No problem. You would have done the same for me." Sean just nodded.  
  
"Um, Sean?" Naru walked over to Sean nervously. "I just want to say I'm really sorry about what I did. Is there any way I can make it up to you?"  
  
"Um… Can I get back to you on that?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
After a very uncomfortable silence, Sean clapped his hands, startling the others. "Well, I think we need something to get our minds off the events that just transpired here; and I think I know how." He snapped his fingers and he vanished, along with Motoko's shirt.  
  
The victim gasped, then, true to her personality, got really mad. "I'm going to kick your ass, Sean!"  
  
"You'll have to find me, first." Sean's voice seemed to come from every direction.  
  
"Oh, I will, and when I do--"  
  
"You'll take out your aggression on me," the omnipresent voice said. "Good!"  
  
Still angry, but aware of why Sean did what he did, Motoko smiled to the others and ran off to find her now laughing target.  
  
---  
  
"There, it's done. You happy now?"  
  
"Yes, you could have done a bit better, but you have improved. You had better keep it up or else I'll come back; and if I do, you won't get another chance, understand?"  
  
"Yes, Sir."  
  
The censor left the writer alone in his room, a full 5 days after a showed up. The young man was glad to be rid of him, finally free to write without someone breathing down his neck. "I guess I should probably get back to the main story." He then started thinking of ideas for the next chapter.  
  
* * * End of Intermission  
  
How was that? Did you enjoy it? Please respond with your opinions. Have a nice day (or night, depending when you're reading this) and I'll see you next time, with chapter 5. I don't know how long this will actually take. I have no idea exactly where the story is going to go. Patience is a virtue, you know. 


	6. Ch5: Psychological Pstruggle

You like me, you really like me! I'd like to thank the Acamdemy--never mind. It's time I got back to being serious. And in case you're wondering, I don't have a degree in psychology, nor to I plan to. I honestly don't know how these insights in previous chapters appeared in my head; they just did.  
  
(*Sigh* I hope this chapter goes along well.)  
  
Here we go, brace yourself.  
  
* * * Chapter V: Psychological Pstruggle * * *  
  
Monday, 7/8  
  
A beautiful sunrise appeared over Hinata. Almost the entire town was still asleep. One of the exceptions was a young man sitting on the roof of an apartment complex, looking at the wonderful view.  
  
Sean usually spent early mornings out there, thinking about various things; the events of the past, his plans for the day ahead and his hopes for the future. His mind was so distant, he was unaware of the door thirty feet away slowly opening.  
  
Motoko opened the door to find the caretaker staring into space. She had found him there in days past, and had decided not to disturb him. This time, however, she had things she needed to get off her chest. Noticing him completely unaware to her presence, she decided to get his attention.  
  
Sean was still off in space somewhere, thinking about the lessons for the day, the cleaning schedule and so forth, until a voice jarred him back to planet Earth.  
  
"Sean?" Motoko said, a bit hesitantly.  
  
"Huh?" Sean turned his head suddenly. "Oh. Hey, Motoko."  
  
Motoko started to smile. "You're not planning on jumping off the roof again, are you?"  
  
Sean chuckled a bit. "Nah, I was just thinking about… stuff."  
  
"Mind if I join you?"  
  
"Not at all." Motoko sat down next to Sean, still a bit nervous.  
  
For a little while, they both just looked out over the town in an uneasy silence. Motoko was getting a bit anxious. She knew she had to say something, but she couldn't get her mouth to form words for some reason. Sean ended up being the first to speak.  
  
"Motoko?"  
  
"Yeah?" That was all she could get out.  
  
"I know there's been more bad times between us then anyone else here." Motoko just nodded silently. "I also know that times change and we've been on more friendly terms lately."  
  
"Yes, we've come a long way." Motoko started to feel more comfortable about their conversation.  
  
"We have, but I think there's something getting in the way of us getting any closer as friends."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. Have you felt the same way?"  
  
Motoko's face turned red. "Actually, that's what I wanted to talk to you about."  
  
Sean raised an eyebrow. "Is that right?"  
  
Still blushing, Motoko slowly nodded. "I've grown to like you since your arrival. I admit that at first I wanted you to leave; I felt that a man had no place in a girls' dorm."  
  
"Completely understandable."  
  
"Since then, you have proven yourself a man of morals, worthy of being around us without our being overly cautious of you trying to… to…"  
  
"Be perverted?"  
  
"Yes. Everyone else has fully accepted you being here, but there is still something in the back of my mind that doesn't want you around. I have tried forcing it out myself, but to no avail. I hoped that with your… knack for solving this sort of problem, you could somehow pry that feeling loose."  
  
"It will take a bit of time, but I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Motoko got up and walked to the door. She felt like a great weight had been lifted off her shoulders. As she opened the door, she looked back at Sean. He was lying on his back, his head resting on his hands. He seemed to be in deep thought. She allowed herself a smile as she left.  
  
Motoko wandered about aimlessly, thinking about her conversation with the resident psychotherapist. She found herself in the kitchen just as the others were gathering for breakfast.  
  
As she sat down to eat, she was still so involved in her own thoughts that she didn't hear the others, at least until physical contact was made.  
  
"Motoko, are you in there?" Suu knocked on her forehead.  
  
"Huh?" Motoko said, realizing in full what was going on. "Oh, hello."  
  
"Are you all right?" Naru asked.  
  
Motoko shook her head a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just… thinking."  
  
"About what?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Nothing important."  
  
Breakfast came and went in an eerie silence, Motoko being the target of everyone's stares. Motoko soon finished her meal, thanked Shinobu for it and left, giving the rest a chance to talk about the situation.  
  
"That did not look like the Motoko we know." Kitsune said.  
  
"You're right. There might be something wrong with her." Naru said.  
  
"After I clean up here, I'll go find Sean. He may know how to help." Shinobu said.  
  
"Good idea. In the meantime, the rest of us will keep an eye on Motoko." Kitsune said. With that, they all went their own separate ways.  
  
Sean spent a good while on the roof contemplating Motoko's dilemma. He considered what emotions might be involved and the possible steps to take in removing the wall they may have placed between the true friendship of himself and the troubled swordswoman.  
  
After about an hour, his thoughts were interrupted once again. He glanced over to find one of the girls walking towards him. "Hey Shinobu. How are you this morning?"  
  
"I'm fine, thank you, but…" Shinobu found it hard to look him in the eye.  
  
Sean sat up. "What's wrong? Did someone get hurt or something?"  
  
"No, it's not that, it's just that Motoko has been acting really strange today."  
  
"How so?"  
  
"Well, at breakfast, it looked like she was daydreaming."  
  
"Hmm… that does seem a bit strange for her. Have the others noticed this?"  
  
Shinobu nodded. "None of us know what she was thinking about and she wasn't exactly interested in telling us."  
  
"I see. Thank you for telling me."  
  
"Do you think something's wrong with her?"  
  
"I don't know." Sean then started to stand up and leave.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Maybe I'll go talk to Motoko and find out what's going on. Then again, I may wait until later if she does not want to be bothered. Either way, I'm going inside before the others start to worry about me too."  
  
Shinobu nodded and the two went in together side by side.  
  
Sure enough, Motoko did not wish to be bothered by anyone, with the exception of Sean, but even he refused to disturb her before he had a suitable solution to her problem. Sean spent the rest of the morning in his room, his thoughts split between Motoko and preparing for class.  
  
After another quiet meal, the students spent their time in class demonstrating the skills they have learned over the last few days. Sean was astonished by the advances they have made, considering it took his twice as long to get as proficient as the girls were now. As each pupil took their turn in performing various tricks, Sean noted how each person added their own personal style to the act.  
  
When it was Motoko's turn, the teacher noticed she seemed only half-focused in her efforts. She hid her hindrance well and cast her spells with relative ease, but she was a bit distracted nonetheless. Luckily, she was the last one and Sean could end the class thereafter and have talk with her.  
  
"Remarkable," Sean began, "That's the best way to describe it. In the last week, you have done as much, if not more than I was able to do in twice the time. Also, in observing you, I have learned much about magic myself. I guess the only thing left to say is that I believe you are no longer in need of my tutelage. You should be able to learn spells on your own, but keep this in mind; I will continue to keep tabs on your progress, the spells you know and so on, and if I find a spell that, for lack of better words, you should not be knowing, I will step in. Thank you for giving me the chance to give you some of my knowledge. May you use your new abilities with skill and, if you use them outside of these walls, extreme discretion."  
  
"I say we celebrate!" Kitsune said. Everyone agreed and started to leave and begin the festivities.  
  
Seeing this, Sean knew if he wanted to talk to Motoko, he had to speak up quickly. "Motoko, could I have a talk with you for a moment?" He caught her attention just before she stepped out.  
  
Motoko heart stopped for a moment when she heard him. She walked over and sat down next to Sean. "Did you think of a solution?"  
  
"Perhaps. I may be wrong, but the idea I've come up with should work to unblock your mind from truly accepting me. I will not tell you the details--not yet. I want you to react to this when the time comes. Meet me on the roof in two hours; try not to be followed. All will be revealed then. For now, go out and party with the others. You have earned it." As an afterthought, Sean added, "And don't drink if you can help it. You will need your full focus."  
  
Motoko tried to hold back tears, but to no avail. "Thank you." Her voice could barely be heard. "Thank you for helping me."  
  
Sean shook his head. "No, I'm helping both of us." He wiped to tears from Motoko's cheeks. "Go. I must make preparations." Motoko slowly got up and walked to the door. She stopped in the doorway and looked back at Sean. He nodded, seeming to reassure her of his confidence in his idea. She then left to join the party downstairs.  
  
The two hours came and went, but for Motoko, it seemed an eternity. Her mind was flooded with thoughts. What is Sean's plan? Will it work? How close will it bring us? She was co consumed by her thoughts, she was unable to enjoy herself.  
  
After the time mercifully passed, Motoko made her way to the roof. When she opened the door, she was shocked by what she saw. Sean sat before her in a samurai gi similar to the one she usually wore except his was light blue. There were two wooden swords at his side.  
  
"What is all this?" Motoko asked.  
  
"I mentioned that I had a plan to get us closer together as friends. I spent a long time racking my brain to think of a way to do it without anyone, especially Naru, suspecting that we may be becoming more than just friends. I finally found that solution; at least I hope it's a solution."  
  
"What are you saying?"  
  
"What I'm saying is this: May I become your student?"  
  
This question knocked Motoko for a loop. This was the last thing she thought he would do. She just stood there, silent.  
  
"Motoko?" Sean asked. Perhaps this wasn't the right idea after all. "Are you alright?"  
  
Motoko snapped out of her stupor. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was just caught off guard by your request."  
  
"I guess it was a bit sudden." Sean smiled, looking at his outfit. "Do I look good in this?"  
  
Motoko chuckled a bit. "You're always trying to cheer us up."  
  
"It's what I do, whether I try to or not."  
  
Motoko walked over and sat a few feet in front of Sean. "Do you realize what it is you're asking?"  
  
"Yes. I have thought it over and I sincerely believe I have what it takes. And in case you're wondering, I will only use magic to recover from any wounds I receive, not for enhancing my agility, my strength or anything like that."  
  
"I admire your honesty. Perhaps you do have what it takes. When did you plan on beginning your training?"  
  
"How about right now?"  
  
"Well, I'm exactly in the right attire for…"  
  
"Not a problem." Sean waved his hands and a wave of energy encircled a surprised Motoko. When the energy subsided, she found herself in her own gi.  
  
"I guess not."  
  
Sean tossed one bokken to her, grabbed the other and stood up. "Are you ready?" Sean asked.  
  
"I had not expected to become a teacher so quickly."  
  
"Neither did I, and you see the job I did. I have confidence that you will do just as well."  
  
"I wonder, why did you decide on this?"  
  
"The way I see it, the emotion keeping us apart is actually a lack a respect. From my perspective, I haven't earned your respect as a warrior. Whenever I've been attacked, I've only made efforts to defend myself, if that. I hoped that if I became your student, I could earn that respect."  
  
Motoko considered Sean's words for a moment. "I think you're right." She stood up, bokken in hand. "I guess I'm ready, but are you?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Well then, prepare yourself for battle."  
  
Just as Motoko said that, the door behind her opened.  
  
---  
  
Back at the party, Naru had noticed Motoko was nowhere to be found. She excused herself and set out to find her. After a while, she recalled that she hadn't seen Sean either and went to each of their rooms, but neither of them were there. "Where could they be?" She said to herself. After thinking about it for a while, she figured at least one of them would be on the roof; they tended to spend a lot of time there, though usually not at the same time.  
  
When Naru got closer to the door to the roof, she could hear faint voices. She recognized the voices as the two she had been looking for and opened the door.  
  
"Well then, prepare yourself for battle," Motoko said.  
  
Naru saw the two about to square off. "What's going on up here?"  
  
Both Sean and Motoko looked to the door to find Naru standing there. Sean decided to try to get rid of her.  
  
"This does not concern you, Naru! Don't interfere." Sean said, pointing his wooden sword at her.  
  
"Yes," Motoko confirmed. "He has dishonored me and I must defeat him to regain it."  
  
Sean was surprised by what she said, but he realized she was trying the same thing he was.  
  
"That should not be too hard."  
  
"You would think that because I've never fought back before." Sean turned to his opponent. "Let's get this over with." He readied his fighting stance (if that's what you'd call it) and waited for Motoko to attack, under the circumstances, expecting the worst.  
  
"Wait!" Naru said just before Motoko charged.  
  
"What now, Naru?!" Sean was getting irritated.  
  
"If this is the first time you're actually in a two-sided fight, I want the others here to see it."  
  
Motoko was getting aggravated as well. "If you must, but be quick about it or we'll start without you!" Naru ran inside.  
  
"Well, that could have gone better," Sean said. "I didn't think you could improvise like that."  
  
"Are you saying I can't think on my feet?"  
  
"No, just not that convincingly. Since they will think this is a real battle, we should treat it like one."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I don't think you should go easy on me."  
  
"I wasn't going to, anyway."  
  
"Oh. Never mind, then."  
  
Naru was out of breath when she got back to the graduation party. Kitsune, pretty inebriated, noticed her come in.  
  
"Hey, waz goin on?"  
  
Naru had to catch her breath a bit. "Sean… and Motoko…"  
  
"Motoko's beating Sean up again?!" Shinobu said, obviously worried.  
  
"No--at least not yet."  
  
"Huh?" Kitsune was trying to figure things out in her head--and not doing too well.  
  
"Motoko… challenged him."  
  
"What?!?" Everyone was shocked by what Naru said.  
  
"Sean doesn't stand a chance!" Shinobu said, still concerned.  
  
"We don't know that, now do we? When have we ever seen him fight?"  
  
"Um, never."  
  
"Exactly. Whatever the case, we should go up there and watch before they start without us." Everyone then rushed up to the roof, with the exception of Kitsune, who was too drunk to walk straight, and Naru, who helped her friend on her way.  
  
---  
  
"So, how long do you think you can last against me?" Motoko asked.  
  
"I don't know. Probably not too long." Sean shook his head. It was apparent he wasn't looking forward to this--exactly which part Motoko could not be sure.  
  
The door burst open and Suu and Shinobu ran out onto the roof, eager to watch Sean fight. Soon after, Kitsune stumbled out, braced by Naru.  
  
"Well," Sean said, looking at Motoko. "I guess we can start now."  
  
"Yes." Both combatants readied their fighting stances, the crowd cheering them on.  
  
"I guess I'll start off slow, to see what skills he has with the sword." Motoko thought. She charged over and made an overhead strike toward Sean.  
  
"Here we go." Sean muttered as he moved his sword to block his opponent's blow. More swings were made and Sean blocked them with little difficulty. "She's just toying with me right now," he thought.  
  
"Hmm," Motoko thought as she observed Sean's movements. "He seems a bit stiff. This won't last long." She continued her assault.  
  
Sean continued to dodge and block, but had a harder time doing it after a while. "I won't win if I just block," he thought. "I just have to wait until she lets her guard down…" When Motoko raised her sword for another attack, Sean saw his chance. He sidestepped her strike and made an attack of his own, his sword making contact with Motoko's head just above the her left ear.  
  
The strike caught Motoko by surprise, not only that he's been able to dodge her swings for this long, but also land an attack of his own.  
  
While Motoko was dazed, Sean continued his attack, rushed behind her and hit her in the small of her back, making her go down to all fours. Sean seemed impressed with himself. "Wow," he thought. "I actually knocked her down." He almost didn't notice he was short of breath.  
  
Cheers came from the crowd.  
  
"You can do it, Sean!" Shinobu shouted.  
  
"I never thought he had it in him." Kitsune said.  
  
Motoko quickly recovered; the blows dealt seemed to do little damage. "It seems I have underestimated you, Sean," she said. "I guess It's time I quit playing around." Motoko noticed Sean's heavy breathing. "If he's exhausted after that," she thought, "he won't stand a chance."  
  
"Great," Sean thought. "This won't end well."  
  
Motoko jumped high in the air, getting ready to deliver the blow that would end the battle. She yelled something, but Sean wasn't listening at the moment. Summoning her ki, she unleashed a wake of energy with a swing of her bokken.  
  
Sean sensed the attack coming and he quickly went through his mind to find a way to counter it. At the last second, he sent his own magical energy into his sword in an attempt to deflect the blow.  
  
When the light pink energy wave contacted the blue energy radiating from Sean's weapon, there was a blinding flash of light. The light quickly subsided to reveal Motoko's attack being absorbed into Sean's sword. The two energies mixed into a sort of lavender color and was sent through Sean's body, causing no small amount of pain.  
  
Everyone was in a shocked silence as Sean's body radiated the light purple ki like he was being electrocuted. Indeed, that was what it felt like for the unfortunate combatant. He seemed unable to contain the power that was threatening to tear him apart from the inside out.  
  
Motoko saw the entire spectacle from her high vantage point and landed moments before Sean screamed in agony and went down to one knee. "Oh, no," Motoko thought, wide eyed. "I think I overdid it." She walked over to her opponent, who's body was giving off energy like a battery with a short. She could barely hear his shallow breathing. Motoko could see the foreign energy flowing through him and his body's feeble attempts to fight it off and she knew there was not much time before his entire body would be consumed.  
  
When Motoko got within a foot of Sean, he raised his head suddenly, looking at her. To her surprise, his eyes had turned the same light purple color as the energy he had taken in. He leapt back on the foot he wasn't kneeling on and landed a few feet away. The next thing Motoko heard would send a chill down her spine.  
  
"You tried to destroy me. For that, you must pay!" Sean's voice had become a mix of both his own and Motoko's, with just a pinch of the inhumane. Sean's body suddenly seemed to thrive off the energy it had once tried to resist. With unnatural speed, Sean ran towards his opponent, sword raised to strike. Motoko was barely able to block the blow before it would have connected with her head. Sean continued his attack mercilessly, Motoko struggling to keep up a defense.  
  
The crowd was on edge. Sean was one of the most nonviolent people they had ever known, yet now it looked like as though he had been fighting his whole life.  
  
"Naru," Shinobu said, tears starting to form, "we have to stop them!"  
  
"No," Naru said flatly. "we can't. It would dishonor Motoko if we interfered."  
  
"I don't care! I don't want to see them hurt!"  
  
"Me either, but--"  
  
Before Naru could stop her, Shinobu ran over to the two fighters. She grabbed Sean's arm in mid swing. "You have to stop this!" She screamed.  
  
Sean turned his gaze to the girl holding his arm. He yanked it out her grasp, grabbed her by the neck and tossed her out of the way. Shinobu landed about ten feet away, rolling a bit before coming to a rest, favoring her left arm. Horrified, Naru, Kitsune and Suu ran over to Shinobu to check on her condition.  
  
Motoko, on the other hand, was angered almost beyond rational thought. Sure, he may hurt her in this battle, but harming others just could not be tolerated.  
  
"That's it!" Motoko said. "This end's here!"  
  
"Bring it on, kendo-girl!"  
  
Motoko summoned as much ki as she could and ran over to deliver the final strike, her blade wreathed in light red flames. She raised her bokken and swung at Sean's head. To her horror, he stopped the attack with one hand.  
  
Sean's face showed an evil smile. "Nice try, girlie, but not good enough. I think it's time you took a nap." Still holding Motoko's sword, he tossed it high into the air, with his opponent still attached. He jumped up after her and made a ki-charged strike, sending Motoko flying down to the ground (not the roof, mind you) at Mach 1. She landed near the hot spring, making an indentation a foot and a half deep in the grass.  
  
Landing on the edge of the roof, Sean looked down at his defeated adversary and let out a laugh that did not sound human. As the adrenaline from his victory passed, his energy left him and he lost consciousness, almost falling off the roof in the process.  
  
* * * End of Chapter V * * *  
  
Wow. I didn't see that one coming. That one left a few questions. Does Motoko survive? Do I survive? How did I become the merciless monster you just witnessed? Do these events bring me and Motoko closer together (provided they both live)? How's Shinobu's arm? These questions will (hopefully) be answered in the next chapter. Please R&R. 


	7. Ch6: The Battle of Medulla Oblongata

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but myself and the character that will be introduced shortly (I don't want to spoil it for you) are of my own design. Any similarities of these two characters or the events in this chapter to those made by other authors are completely unintentional.  
  
Well, I'm back. (Looks out into the audience; there are no more than half a dozen people there. There is a distinct sound a crickets chirping.) Oh. For those of you who are still here, thank you. I hope you like what you're about to see; I'm sure you have some unanswered questions. (Walks behind curtain)  
  
* * * Chapter VI: The Battle of Medulla Oblongata * * *  
  
A woman paced around a strange, dimly lit room, anger apparent on her face. "Your body is so weak!" She yelled to a person tied to a chair nearby.  
  
"I'm so sorry," The bound man said sarcastically. "Considering how easily you took it over, you should have known that already." That earned a slap in the face.  
  
"Shut up! I have had enough of your comments!"  
  
"Hey, I'm not the one who took over someone's body and beat up one of my friends! What if Motoko dies because of what you did?!"  
  
The strange woman shook her head and brushed strands of her long brown hair out of her face. "You just don't see the big picture."  
  
"Oh great, you're one of those world domination people, aren't you? How original." The woman in the light purple gi grabbed Sean by the neck.  
  
"That's it! I'm going to kill you!"  
  
"You won't kill me. If I die, this body dies too, trapping you here for all eternity."  
  
She could not tell if Sean was lying or not, but didn't want to find out the hard way. She let go of his throat and turned away from him. "How long will it take for this stupid body to work again?"  
  
"Could be hours, could be days."  
  
"So, what you're saying is, I'm stuck here for hours--with you."  
  
Sean allowed himself a smile. "Yup."  
  
"Shit."  
  
---  
  
The battle between Sean and Motoko had just come to a crashing halt. Naru and Kitsune went to check on the two fighters. Naru examined Sean, who laid passed out near the edge of the roof. She called out to Kitsune, who was looking at Motoko, imbedded in the grass near the hot spring below.  
  
"Is Motoko going to be alright?"  
  
"She's hurt pretty badly," Kitsune said, "but I think she'll recover. How's things on your end?"  
  
"Sean's out cold. He may not wake up for a while, but he'll be fine."  
  
"Good. We should get them inside. Hey Suu, how's Shinobu?"  
  
"Not good. Looks like she has a broken arm."  
  
Shinobu would not stop crying. "Why did he hurt me?"  
  
"I'm sure he didn't mean to," Suu said, trying to comfort her; it wasn't working.  
  
"It's all my fault… it's all my fault…"  
  
"No, Shinobu," Naru said, carrying Sean. "Sean was not himself when he did what he did. He may not have recognized you."  
  
"It's all my fault…" Shinobu buried her face into Suu's chest.  
  
"Let it go for now, Naru," Suu said, resignedly. "Just get Sean inside."  
  
Naru nodded and rushed to the door. She found two beds set up in Sean's room. Motoko was on one of them already, with Kitsune standing nearby. After placing Sean on the futon next to Motoko's, Naru placed a hand on Kitsune's shoulder.  
  
"Shinobu's really torn up about what happened. I'm starting to worry about her."  
  
"You'd feel that way too if you were in her place; if the person you admire went off and tossed you like a rag doll."  
  
"I suppose you're right." Naru looked at Sean's still body. "I wonder what happened to him to make him act that way?"  
  
"I don't know. Maybe Sean had some sort of personality shift."  
  
"That sounds like some bad movie."  
  
---  
  
"Geez, it feels like I'm in a bad movie." Sean thought, rolling his eyes.  
  
"Alright," The evil woman began, "here's what's going to happen. When this fucking body of yours wakes up, you're going to be in control."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"I have to make them think you've returned to normal. When they let their guard down, I'll take over and kill them all."  
  
"No! I won't let you hurt my friends!"  
  
"And what are you going to do to stop me?"  
  
"Um, I haven't figured that part out yet."  
  
She chuckled evilly. "You know you can't beat me."  
  
"That may be true, but what's the point of ruling the world if nobody knows who you are?"  
  
"That's right, I haven't introduced myself, did I?"  
  
"No, you didn't. You just barged in here and tied me up."  
  
"Hmm, I've never thought of what to call myself. Since I came from the energy of both you and that girl--what's her name--"  
  
"Motoko."  
  
"Right. I guess my name should a mix between the two. How does Shotoko sound?"  
  
"Too much like a mushroom."  
  
"Okay then, how about Shonoko?"  
  
"Sound's good, Shaneequa."  
  
"Shonoko."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Anyway, when you take control, try to act like you don't remember anything after I took over."  
  
"Yeah yeah, I get it."  
  
---  
  
Sean and Motoko remained out cold for quite a while. The whole time, one of the girls stayed to make sure they were alright and to alert the others if one of them should wake up.  
  
The only one who refused to see them was Shinobu. She stayed in her room, cradling her broken arm, which had been put in a cast by Suu. "What did I do to make him so made at me?" She said to herself. She had run out of tears long ago, but she still cried.  
  
"You didn't do anything. Please stop crying." Kitsune, Naru and Suu rotated shifts between the two combatants and Shinobu. All of them needed all the help they could get, whether they wanted it or not. It was Naru's turn to try and calm Shinobu down. "He still cares for you, like he cares for all of us." Naru touched Shinobu's cast. She pulled it away quickly, wincing in pain.  
  
"HE HATES ME!" Shinobu yelled.  
  
"Shinobu, you know he doesn't hate anyone, especially not you."  
  
---  
  
"I hate you so much, Shonoko!"  
  
She seemed to take it as a compliment. "What's the point of being an evil mastermind if nobody hates you?" She suddenly noticed that Sean was at a control panel. "Hey, how did you get untied?"  
  
"Magic. Besides, you wanted me to control the body when it woke up, and it would be hard to do that tied to a chair, wouldn't it?"  
  
"I suppose not. How much longer until this thing comes back to life?"  
  
"Just a sec." Sean looked over the gauges and instruments of the console. "It should be just a few more minutes."  
  
"Good." Shonoko noticed the lights above her get a bit brighter.  
  
---  
  
It soon became Suu's turn to watch Sean and Motoko. Over three hours have passed since the battle that left both of them down for the count, and Suu was visibly bored with the prospect of just looking at statues. After a few minutes however, one of the statue's eyes started to open. Suu immediately ran to the hole in the ceiling, which had been changed from a ragged gap to a smoothed-edged passage, complete with trap door.  
  
"Naru," Suu said, barely able to contain herself, "Sean's awake! Go tell the others!"  
  
Naru, who had been studying, nodded and ran out to Shinobu's room. She opened the door to find Shinobu still sobbing a bit, but considerably less than the last time she saw her. Kitsune was by her side.  
  
"Sean woke up," was all Naru said before she bolted back the way she came.  
  
Kitsune got up to go, but when she got to the door she looked back to find that Shinobu hadn't moved an inch. "Don't you want to see him?"  
  
Shinobu shook her head angrily and spoke with a voice to match. "I never want to see him again!"  
  
"You don't mean that."  
  
"Yes I do. I don't want him to hurt me again."  
  
"He won't. The rest of us will make sure of that." Seeing Shinobu remain motionless, Kitsune sighed. "Alright, if you don't want to go, I won't force you." Kitsune then left, eager to see Sean up and around again.  
  
Shinobu muttered something to herself, but Kitsune was already out of earshot.  
  
Sean sat up to find Naru and Suu staring at him. Kitsune entered shortly thereafter. Sean started to wonder about the looks he was receiving. "…What?"  
  
"Don't you remember what happened?" Naru asked in shock.  
  
"I remember Motoko flinging an energy wave at me and feeling like a lightning rod."  
  
"Anything after that?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"No. Why, what happened? Where's Motoko?"  
  
Naru pointed to where Motoko's motionless body laid. Sean looked in amazement.  
  
"What happened to her?"  
  
"You happened to her." Naru said flatly.  
  
"What?!"  
  
Kitsune gave Sean a play by play of the battle where Sean left off, taking care to leave out how he treated Shinobu. When she concluded, Sean looked at Motoko, a look of concern on his face.  
  
"I see." He glanced around and realized someone was missing. "Where's Shinobu?"  
  
An eerie silence befell the girls.  
  
Sean looked at them suspiciously. "Is there something you're not telling me?"  
  
More silence.  
  
Sean grabbed Kitsune by the shirt. "TELL ME!"  
  
"You don't want to know."  
  
"Try me."  
  
"Shinobu's in her room. Find out for yourself." Sean quickly left, heading for Shinobu's room.  
  
"Are you sure that was a good idea?" Naru asked, glaring at Kitsune.  
  
"It would come to this anyway."  
  
"I say we follow him," Suu suggested, "in case things get out of hand." Naru and Kitsune nodded and they rushed out after Sean.  
  
When Sean opened the door to Shinobu's inner sanctum, he found her sitting on the floor. It was obvious she had been crying for quite a while, but the thing that demanded his attention was the cast on her left arm. He couldn't help but wonder what caused such an injury.  
  
When Shinobu looked up to see who opened the door, she was horrified to see the one who had hurt her so badly, both physically and emotionally. She couldn't bear to look at him for more than a moment.  
  
Sean was surprised to see Shinobu cringe and back away from him. "Shinobu, what's wrong?" He said as he walked toward her.  
  
"Stay back! Don't you come near me!"  
  
"At least let me take a look at your arm…"  
  
"You can see it just fine from there!"  
  
The others walked in to find Shinobu holding off Sean by words alone.  
  
"Why won't you tell me what happened?"  
  
"You know darn well what happened, you big dumb JERK!"  
  
That last word struck Sean like a blow to the head; one more powerful than Naru could ever do. He went down on all fours, tears streaming from his eyes. "Why won't you tell me what's going on? The others won't tell me what happened, and you're too mad at me for some reason to care. Apparently, I did something to hurt you, but I honestly have no memory of it. Somebody PLEASE fill me in!"  
  
"She tried to stop the fight," Naru said. "She grabbed your arm as you were trying to beat Motoko senseless. You grabbed her by the neck and threw her to the side. She landed pretty hard, breaking her arm in the process."  
  
"No…" Sean's eyes grew wide as he realized what he had done. "NO!" He pounded the floor with his fists.  
  
"I told you you didn't want to know." Kitsune said.  
  
"Now I see why you hate me, Shinobu. I'm sorry for what I've done, but I don't expect you to forgive me. My actions, not only towards you, but Motoko too, are inexcusable." With that, he got up to leave.  
  
Shinobu's expression changed immediately. "Sean, stop."  
  
"No. I've caused too much damage already. I need to get away from you all for a while before I cause another injury--or worse."  
  
"Sean…" Naru whispered. Without thinking, she, along with the others, started following Sean back to his room. They were just outside his door when they heard a scream from inside.  
  
---  
  
Shonoko saw her chance and decided to take it. "Step aside, I'm taking control."  
  
"Why now?!"  
  
"The others are worried half to death about you right now. Now is the perfect time to finish the job you started."  
  
"No, I won't let you kill them!"  
  
"What are you going to do about it?"  
  
"I can only think of one way…"  
  
---  
  
The four girls rushed in to find Sean on the ground, one hand clutching Motoko's, the other holding his head. He seemed to be in great pain.  
  
"What's going on?!" Naru asked, almost hysterical.  
  
"No! It's happening again!"  
  
"What's happening?!"  
  
"No time to explain; quick, knock me unconscious!"  
  
Naru was stunned by the sudden request. "Why do you--"  
  
"DO IT!"  
  
Naru reluctantly walked over and punched Sean squarely in the head. Surprisingly, he didn't go flying like he normally does, but Naru accomplished what he asked of her. He collapsed, his hand still holding Motoko's tightly, his head resting on her stomach."  
  
"What was that all about?" Suu said, trying to let the scene sink in.  
  
"Something must be very wrong," Kitsune said, "for him to ask for something like that."  
  
Naru just stood next to Sean, speechless, switching stares between her fist and the recipient of said fist.  
  
---  
  
The lights in the control room grew dim once again.  
  
"What the hell did you do?!" Shonoko was livid.  
  
"This is the only way to keep my friends safe from you."  
  
"That's it!" Shonoko grabbed Sean by the neck. "I don't care if I do get stuck here forever, YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" She sent him flying across the room. As luck would have it, before Sean hit the wall, he flew into a disk of light, which hadn't been there moments before.  
  
"Hey, where did that come from?" Shonoko wondered.  
  
---  
  
In a kendo dojo somewhere, a girl in her mid to late teens sat in a meditative position. She had been there motionless for a about an hour after making much needed repairs to the structure. She suddenly became aware of voices behind her, but she could only make out the last few words: "YOU ARE GOING TO DIE!" Curious about the statement, she looked back to find a floating disk that seemed to come out of nowhere, radiating a strange light. Moments later, a man flew through the portal, hitting the far wall. It took a moment for the girl to recognize the man before her. "Sean?"  
  
Sean looked up to find that he wasn't in the same room as before, and the girl looking at him wasn't the same one either, but there were some striking similarities. He knew who she was without giving it a second thought. "Motoko?"  
  
Motoko ran over to him and helped him to his feet. "What happened to you?"  
  
Just then, another person stepped through the portal; a girl that could have been thought of as Motoko's twin sister.  
  
Sean pointed at the second girl. "Does that answer your question?"  
  
Shonoko looked at her surroundings, then at the two people before her. "Ah, Motoko. I thought I had killed you. No matter. I'll just do it now!"  
  
"That voice--" Motoko thought.  
  
"No!" Sean stepped in front of his friend. "You don't need to bring Motoko into this. You've hurt her enough as it is. Fight me instead."  
  
"If you want to fight me so badly, I'll gladly oblige, but you'll only delay the inevitable. After I deal with you, she will be next."  
  
"Not if I beat you first."  
  
Shonoko laughed at the comment. "You can't harm me."  
  
"I won't know until I try, will I?"  
  
"Sean, who is she?" Motoko asked.  
  
"The one who beat you senseless."  
  
"Wait--what?"  
  
"I'll explain later." Sean charged Shonoko, intent on slicing her in two with the sword he had secretly gotten from Motoko's side.  
  
Sean's opponent, unfazed by his weapon, dodged Sean's attacks without much effort. "You aren't worth my time." She slapped Sean out of the way and walked toward a scared Motoko. "You're a different story, but without your sword, you're less than nothing."  
  
"Leave her alone!" Sean rushed over slashed at Shonoko's back.  
  
"OW! Alright, I've had just about enough of your interference! TIME TO SAY GOODBYE!" Shonoko grabbed Sean by the throat and began choking the life out of him.  
  
Motoko could not bear to just stand and watch anymore and charged the other girl. Sean noticed her approach and was barely able to toss the sword he still held in his hand in her general direction. She grabbed the sword in mid air and skillfully took Shonoko's legs out from under her.  
  
Shonoko let go of Sean in surprise, falling flat on her face. She got up and looked at Motoko, hatred in her eyes. "You'll wish you hadn't done that." She grabbed Sean by the arm and flung him at Motoko.  
  
Unable to get out of the way in time, Motoko was hit full force by Sean's body. The two landed next to the wall.  
  
Shonoko walked over to them and summoned energy to deliver the final blow. Shonoko positioned her hands in front of her and a beam of light purple energy shot out towards her victims.  
  
Sean sensed the attack and began gathering some of his own. He was barely able to raise his force field in time, protecting both himself and Motoko. Shonoko smiled at Sean's attempt at a defense.  
  
"You won't be able to keep that up for long, and when that shield crumbles, you both will be no more."  
  
Sean knew this all too well; he knew he wouldn't be able to defeat her on his own. Even with Motoko's help, he had failed. He and all his friends were going to die because of his incompetence. He shook those negative thoughts from his head. "NO!!! I will never give up! You will not win!"  
  
"I think I just did."  
  
Sean looked on in horror as his shield started to weaken. He had to think of something, and quick. A thought came to him; he could not be sure if it would work, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  
  
---  
  
Mere seconds have passed since Naru hit Sean. She was still curious as to what could have happened to him to ask for her violent intervention. Suddenly, something hit her mind; something or someone was calling out to her. She looked at Kitsune, Suu and Shinobu; it looked like they felt the same way. Her gaze turned to Sean and Motoko. Their hands were still clasped together. Sweat was pouring down Motoko's forehead; Sean was getting bathed in perspiration as well, mixed in with newly shed tears.  
  
Instinctively, Naru placed her hand among Sean and Motoko's. The others soon followed suit. They sent some of their own energy into Sean's and Motoko's bodies, hoping it will help; somehow.  
  
---  
  
The portal in Motoko's mind was suddenly accompanied by four others. Out of those gates stepped four of the girls of Hinata-Sou. The sight before them would chill them to the core.  
  
Sean and Motoko were huddled together against a wall. About twenty feet away from them, a girl that looked just like Motoko--except for the brown hair--was shooting a beam of energy from her palms. A force field lay between them, protecting the two from total oblivion, but it was fading fast.  
  
"Just give up! You know you ca--" Shonoko was cut off by Naru's fist making contact with her face. She was sent flying into a wall.  
  
Sean looked up to find Suu, Naru, Kitsune and yes, even Shinobu, were standing before him. "Yes," he said quietly. "It worked. There's still hope."  
  
Shonoko recovered from the impact and stared at the other girls in shock. "How did you get in here?!"  
  
"I called them here," Sean answered. "I'm glad my signal was received."  
  
"Sean, what's going on? Where are we?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"We're in Motoko's mind. That," Sean pointed to Shonoko, "is why Motoko and Shinobu got hurt. I trust you know what to do."  
  
"Kick her butt!" Shinobu and Suu said in unison. They, along with Kitsune and Naru, ran over to beat Shonoko to a pulp.  
  
"Please," Shonoko seemed unimpressed by the advance against her. "You think I can be defeated by the likes of you?"  
  
Seeming almost bored, she not only dodged the attacks made against her, but send each them flying one by one toward Sean and Motoko, making a tangled pile of bodies.  
  
She moved back to where she was before her brief flight. "Let's see… where was I before I was so rudely interrupted… oh yeah, I was about to destroy you!" Shonoko readied another blast that would surely annihilate all of them.  
  
"I can't let my friends die…" Sean thought as he pried himself out of the heap he had involuntarily become a part of and stood between his friends and his enemy. "I can't let my friends die…"  
  
"What are you doing?!" Naru pleaded.  
  
"I wouldn't live with myself if I saw you all die. Therefore, I must protect you at all costs."  
  
"What if you get destroyed?" Shinobu asked, not willing to believe what Sean was about to do.  
  
"Then I will go with the knowledge that I sacrificed myself to save those I care for."  
  
"Aw, I think I'm going to cry." Shonoko said. "Your sacrifice will do you no good, for after you die, your 'friends' will have nobody to protect them."  
  
"Then what are you waiting for?" Sean showed no fear towards his imminent demise. "Fire the stupid shot, unless you're scared."  
  
"Idiot. PREPARE TO DIE!" Shonoko released her blast, which was at least twice a powerful as the last one.  
  
Sean stared at the oncoming wave fearlessly. He seemed to accept his fate and readied himself for his eventual destruction.  
  
* * * End of Chapter VI * * *  
  
Some cliffhanger, huh? I guess you'll just have to wait until next time to find out what happens to not only me, but the girls as well. Please R&R. See you next time, if there's anybody left to see it. 


	8. Ch7: Friends to the End

Disclaimer: I don't own Love Hina, but Sean and Shonoko are mine.  
  
(Sean steps through the curtain.) Hello agai...oh great.  
  
Kitsune: What's going on?  
  
Sean: See for yourself.  
  
Kitsune: There's nobody here!  
  
Sean: I know, and to think I thought the story was going pretty well.  
  
Kitsune: Me too, considering this is starting to look like Dragonball Z.  
  
Sean: (Rolls his eyes) Tell me about it.  
  
Kitsune: Hey, since we won't have to do the show, why don't we go back to my dressing room and--  
  
Sean: Don't get your hopes up.  
  
Kitsune: (Snaps fingers) Darn.  
  
Sean: I guess we could still tape this next part and consider it a dress rehersal for now.  
  
Kitsune: Do we have to?  
  
Sean: What, are you backing out, cause I have a cousin I could call and--  
  
Kitsune: No, no, I'll stay.  
  
Sean: Good.  
  
Kitsune: You were just kidding about replacing me, right?  
  
Sean: Maybe. Alright everyone, this will be a filmed dress rehersal! Lights, special effects, cameras, get ready!  
  
* * * Chapter VII: Friends to the End * * *  
  
Motoko looked out from the bottom of the mound of bodies to see a huge wave of pure energy head toward Sean, who did not seem to make an effort to defend himself. "NO! SEAN, DON'T DO THIS!" She was surprised those words came out of her mouth, but she made no effort to stop herself.  
  
Sean glanced back at Motoko, smiled and looked back at his death-bringer. He held out one of his hands, laced with his own energy, and waited for the wave to make contact. "If nothing else," he began; his words could barely be heard, "I can at least stop this thing from hitting my friends."  
  
Just then, the wave hit Sean's hand and exploded, encompassing him in a white cloud of energy. His friends looked on in horror as his body vanished completely. A scream could be heard, but it quickly faded.  
  
Shock turned to sobs as every one of the girls started to cry. Even Motoko could not contain herself. They untangled each other and began to mourn their loss.  
  
"I can't believe he's gone." Naru said, fighting back tears.  
  
"He gave his own life so that we could live on," Motoko said.  
  
The only thing that brought them out of their doldrums was the sound of laughter coming from the other side of the cloud.  
  
Shonoko, satisfied with her work, walked around the blast and saw the girls standing together, staring at her. She gave an evil smile as she got closer. "Some protector he turned out to be." She looked over each girl. "Let's see, which one should I kill first?"  
  
Shinobu stepped forward. "Why do you have to do this? Haven't you done enough damage already?"  
  
"Shinobu, don't!" Naru said, shocked at her actions.  
  
"It looks like I have a volunteer. Hold still for a moment."  
  
"What are you--" Shinobu started. "Hey, I can't move!"  
  
Shonoko pointed two fingers at her target, a point of light appeared at the tips. "Hope you had a nice life." She aimed straight for Shinobu's heart.  
  
"What the--?" Shonoko noticed a strange energy suddenly run through her arm, moving it the exact moment she fired, missing Shinobu by about an inch.  
  
Shonoko was in complete shock. "How did--"  
  
"Leave my friends alone!"  
  
Everyone's gaze returned the death cloud. It dissipated to reveal Sean, medium-rare, holding his right hand; it was missing four fingers. Even with his eyes closed, he looked straight at Shonoko, a smile on his face. "You can't get rid of me that easily."  
  
Now able to move, Shinobu ran over to him. "You're alive, I can't believe it!" She hugged him as hard as she could. "I thought we had lost you!"  
  
Sean "looked" at the girl wrapped around him. "I'm alright, Shinobu. I'm alright." His face turned to a serious one. "For your own safety, you should probably let go."  
  
Shinobu obeyed. "Why? Is something wrong?"  
  
Calmly, Sean removed his glasses and handed them to her. "This is why." He opened his eyes, which glowed blood red.  
  
Shinobu recognized the look right away. "I see." She backed up towards the others, who noticed Sean's eyes as well.  
  
Suu glanced at Shonoko, a smile on her face. "You're in trouble," she said in a sing-song voice.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You can hurt me," Sean said, rage building up in his voice, "you can control my body, but trying to kill those I hold dear to my heart just cannot be tolerated! That last attack you gave me combined with your strike at Shinobu--which would have hit had I not interfered--took away what was left my sanity. This has happened to me once before. Last time, I had ethical and moral concerns to hold me back, so I didn't hurt anybody. You don't have that luxury."  
  
"I'm so scared." Shonoko was unfazed by Sean's speech.  
  
"You should be." Kitsune said.  
  
"She's right, you know. Allow me to demonstrate some of my real power." He muttered a few words and vanished without a trace. Before anyone could respond, he reappeared right in front of his adversary. A swift punch to the midsection sent Shonoko down on all fours. He lifted Shonoko's head to meet his gaze. "I will show you no mercy." He lifted her to her feet and quickly made an energy burst that sent her flying into the nearest wall.  
  
It took a while for Shonoko to get back up, a sneer on her face. "So, is that how we're going to play now?"  
  
"Give me your best shot."  
  
Shonoko sprang forward and tried to knock Sean's block off. Almost effortlessly, he blocked her strikes and made more of his own, sending her into another wall. He started to wonder how the structure was able to take so much abuse; so many impacts and not so much as a dent. "Is that all?"  
  
Gravely annoyed by this turn of events, Shonoko staggered up. "That's it, I'm going to give you all I've got!"  
  
"Uh huh." Sean was not impressed.  
  
"I was hoping it would not come to this, but you leave me no choice!" Shonoko summoned vast amounts of energy, more than Sean has ever felt. He started to get concerned and got as much energy as he could for a counterattack.  
  
Both combatants fired their shots at the same time; both attacks were extremely powerful. Motoko was almost overwhelmed by the sheer power that radiated from both of them. The others were not affected as much, mostly because their senses were not as finely tuned as those of the kendo expert, but could feel the energy nonetheless.  
  
The two blasts collided, sending shards of energy in all directions. Each wave, one purple, one blue, tried to push the other back. At first, the attacks were evenly matched, but one side started to gain an advantage.  
  
60-40 Shonoko  
  
Sean noticed his side losing and frantically searched for more energy the use on the blast. Deep down, he found a previously unused store of power that he quickly unleashed.  
  
50-50 Tie  
  
"You still think you can win," Shonoko said. "Admirable, but this ends here." Her wave gained strength, overpowering Sean's.  
  
75-25 Shonoko  
  
"I guess this is it," Sean thought. "This is how it's going to end; fighting to protect my friends from this abomination." He decided to use every last ounce of energy he had. He knew his body could not handle the strain for long, but he was left with no other choice.  
  
65-35 Shonoko  
  
The girls noticed Sean struggling. Blood was streaming out his nose and ears. They knew he was not last for long in his condition.  
  
63-37 Shonoko  
  
Sean's advance ground to a halt. "Is that really all you have?" Shonoko said. "Here, let me give you some of mine!" More power came from Shonoko's palms, pushing back Sean's blast once more.  
  
87-13 Shonoko  
  
"NO!" Sean screamed. He had no more energy to spare. He was really going to die right there. Liquid started to form in the corners of his eyes; half tears, half blood. He shut his eyes and ducked his head between his outstretched arms; he did not wish to witness his own death.  
  
94-6 Shonoko  
  
Sean suddenly became aware of someone touching him. He opened his eyes to find Shinobu holding his hands in her own. "What are you doing?!"  
  
"I'm not going to let you die alone."  
  
"That's foolish! You have so much to live for."  
  
"I don't care. I'm going to try to help you fight."  
  
Sean noticed energy racing into his hands and out into the blast, appearing in a pink stripe swirling around the main body. To their horror, all it did was slow Shonoko's advance, not stop it entirely.  
  
97-3 Shonoko  
  
"Try as you might, you cannot win; and if I kill Shinobu along with you, there will be less for me to do afterward." Shonoko followed that up with an evil laugh.  
  
"That's it!" Naru said, "I've had it with you! Sean, I'm helping too!" She ran over and placed her hands among Sean's and Shinobu's; a red stripe appeared in the allied attack. The additional power stopped Shonoko's attack entirely, and none too soon.  
  
99-1 Shonoko  
  
"You can't keep that up," Shonoko said. "Your power will soon fail you and you will be annihilated!"  
  
"I'm helping too!" Suu said, eagerly. Soon, a yellow band appeared and Shonoko's wave started to be pushed back.  
  
88-12 Shonoko  
  
Kitsune and Motoko nodded to each other and gave their support. A brown and a silver stripe mingled with the others and continued to drive the aggressor's attack back to where it came from.  
  
64-36 Shonoko  
  
"No! I will not be denied!"  
  
55-45 Shonoko  
  
"You won't last! You're bound to run out of energy, and when you do--"  
  
"Oh, shut up!" Kitsune said.  
  
58-42 Hinata  
  
"I have to… find more… energy…" Shonoko muttered between breaths. "Can't let these… weaklings… BEAT ME!" Shonoko went down deep to the recesses of her mind and the last of her energy was sent out to her hated enemies.  
  
57-43 Shonoko  
  
"We can't let her win." Sean said quietly. "Alright girls, let's give it all we got!"  
  
"Yeah!" The others said in unison. As everyone gave all they had into the blast, it turned from a striped menagerie into a beam of pure white, overtaking Shonoko's with ease.  
  
65-35 Hinata  
  
"NO! This cannot happen!" Shonoko's eyes grew wide as her attack was being overwhelmed.  
  
"Oh, but it can," Naru said, a smile appearing on her face, "and it will."  
  
97-3 Hinata  
  
"You haven't seen the last of me!" That was the last thing Shonoko said before the allied attack reached her, vaporizing her very being.  
  
The white wave vanished soon afterward. Everyone remained motionless for a few moments. As the rush of victory left, Sean collapsed under the stress his body had been put under. The others were weakened as well, but not to such a great extent.  
  
"Is he going to be alright?" Shinobu asked, nervously.  
  
Motoko checked for a pulse and smiled. "He'll be alright."  
  
"Thank goodness," Kitsune sighed. "I was afraid we would lose him… again."  
  
"We should get him back into his own mind." Motoko advised.  
  
The others agreed and, with many grunts and groans, carried Sean's unconscious subconscious through the portal to his psyche.  
  
"He'll wake up after a while," Motoko said, "but for now we all should get back into our own heads."  
  
"What about his hand?" Shinobu asked, pointing to Sean's right hand, or what was left of it.  
  
"I can't say. Considering this is not his actual body, I think it will remain whole. As for this one, maybe his fingers will grow back, but I don't know for sure."  
  
One by one, they left Sean's mind, Motoko being the last to leave. She knelt next to his ravaged body. "Thank you," she said quietly. She then kissed him on the cheek and got up to leave. As she looked back at him just before she stepped through the gateway, she could have sworn she saw him smile.  
  
---  
  
Motoko woke up and found herself in Sean's room, along with everyone else. Sean was the only one not awake, his hand still holding hers and his head buried in her stomach. Where it laid, her gi was stained with sweat, tears, and just a pinch of blood. "Um, does anybody else remember that?"  
  
"What, you mean how beat that evil girl's butt?" Suu said grinning.  
  
"I guess so. It's amazing; I never knew Sean would risk his own life to save ours." Motoko gazed at Sean admiringly.  
  
"What's going on, Motoko? Are you starting to have a crush on the guy?" Kitsune said, elbowing her.  
  
Kotoko blushed. "Um… well…"  
  
"Don't worry about it." Naru said. "You're probably the last one to feel that way about him."  
  
"Don't be so sure." Motoko muttered.  
  
"What was that?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Oh, nothing."  
  
"Um, what's going on?" Sean had just woken up.  
  
"Sean, what you did just now was so cool!" Suu squealed and hugged him.  
  
"What are you talking about? What did I do?"  
  
"Don't you remember?" Naru asked.  
  
"Remember what?"  
  
"Never mind. Let's go." Everyone left Sean alone in his room rather abruptly.  
  
"Okay, that was weird," Sean said to himself, scratching his head.  
  
"Why doesn't Sean remember what happened?" Shinobu was getting concerned.  
  
"His subconscious must still be out cold," Naru said. "I'm sure he'll remember with time."  
  
"I hope so. Hey, what time is it?"  
  
"About quarter to seven." Kitsune said, looking at her watch.  
  
"Shoot! I need to go make dinner!" Shinobu bolted for the kitchen.  
  
"Yeah, we need a meal after what we just did." Kitsune said, grinning.  
  
---  
  
"Dinner's ready!"  
  
When the girls got to the table to eat, they were shocked to find Sean seated there.  
  
"What are you doing here?" Naru asked.  
  
"What do you mean?" Sean asked innocently.  
  
"I thought you didn't have to eat."  
  
"I don't, but it's been too long since I've had Shinobu's wonderful cooking." This made the cook blush.  
  
As the others sat down to eat, Kitsune whispered to Motoko, "There has to be some other reason he's here."  
  
Sean's sharp ears picked up what she said. "You're right." Kitsune snapped her head in his direction. "There is another reason I'm here. I just want to thank you for the way you helped me a little while ago."  
  
Naru smiled. "So you finally remember."  
  
Sean nodded. "I know everything that happened."  
  
"Um," Shinobu asked her face turning red, "is there any way for me to talk to that guy in your head?"  
  
Sean seemed to shudder a bit before he responded. "Yes, Shinobu?"  
  
"Are you feeling any better?"  
  
"I'm a bit weak, but I'm fine."  
  
"What about your hand?"  
  
"Huh? Oh yeah, that. My fingers should fully grow back in a few days. Um, could I ask you something?"  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Where did you put my glasses?"  
  
Shinobu was confused by the question. "…What?"  
  
"Remember, I gave you my glasses during the fight?"  
  
Shinobu's eyes grew wide with realization. "Oh, that's right. I must have left them in Motoko's mind."  
  
"Yeah, you did," Motoko confirmed. "I found them after the battle ended."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Sean." Shinobu started to tear up.  
  
"Don't worry about it." Sean reached over the table and touched Motoko's hand for a moment before lifting it, nodding slightly. "There, problem solved."  
  
"So your not angry with me?"  
  
"Of course not. I would take a lot for me to get mad at you, which reminds me, I should take a look at your arm later." Shinobu blushed again.  
  
Dinner went by in a blur, a chorus of praises, and questions directed at Sean. When everyone finished eating, Kitsune proposed another party to commemorate the victory.  
  
"Great idea, and I think it should be in my room." Sean suggested.  
  
"Why?" Naru asked suspiciously.  
  
"Well, if I happen to pass out drunk or something, I wouldn't want to burden you with the task of getting me back there. Besides, the only thing I would need would be the drinks, which Kitsune and I can get without much effort."  
  
Excited about having two parties in one day, Kitsune and Suu ran upstairs to get ready. Shinobu and Naru soon followed, leaving Sean and Motoko alone.  
  
Sean looked at her, smiling. "Still having a lack of respect for me as a warrior?"  
  
Motoko shook her head, her face turning pink. "No, It's gone."  
  
Sean held the back of his head. "It didn't work exactly the way I had planned it to, but if it worked, whatever." He was about to leave when a thought struck him. "Oh, and another thing;" He walked over to Motoko and, much to her surprise, kissed her on the cheek. "Your welcome." He then winked and left.  
  
Motoko's eyes grew wide at what happened. "Had Sean's subconscious been awake the whole time?" She thought. She found herself smiling, rubbing her cheek. "He's one of the toughest people I've ever known," she said to herself, "yet he's so kind and loving. He's… he's…"  
  
A voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Hey Motoko! Quit daydreaming and join the party!"  
  
Motoko looked to find Naru staring at her. She nodded and quietly followed her to Sean's room.  
  
"Hey, is something wrong?"  
  
"No, everything's… perfect."  
  
"If you say so." Naru opened Sean's door to find the party had already started. There was music playing from his laptop and drinks displayed on the table, alcoholic and otherwise.  
  
Motoko noticed everyone enjoying themselves, especially Sean, who was singing along to the music; he was pretty talented. "Everything's perfect," she thought.  
  
* * * End of Chapter VII * * *  
  
Kitsune: That turned out pretty well.  
  
Motoko: Yeah, you ended up being quite the hero, but did you have to make me look like some love-struck puppy at the end?  
  
Sean: Um...  
  
Naru: How did you get to be such a good writer?  
  
Sean: Beats me. English has never been my best subject.  
  
Suu: What are you thinking about doing for the next chapter?  
  
Sean: Well, I've been thinking about how to introduce other characters.  
  
Kitsune: Really? Anyone we know?  
  
Sean: Well, I would hope so. I've invited this character to watch the last couple chapters. I'm sure you've noticed the new guy backstage, right?  
  
Naru: Well, sure, but what does that have to do with--  
  
Sean: That's the new character. Hey, come on out!  
  
(Mysterious person walks on stage. He's wearing an all black outfit that covers the whole body, and a mask to match. You couldn't identify who was underneath if you tried.)  
  
?: Hello, ladies.  
  
Naru: That voice--  
  
Sean: Shoot, I knew I should have gotten a voice scrambler.  
  
Kitsune: Get the mask, I want to see his face!  
  
Suu: Get him!  
  
?: Uh oh.  
  
Sean: (Facing camera) Um, I guess that's it for now. Please respond, that is, if you ever see this. See you next time, when I introduce the new character, (Looks toward ? quickly and back again) if there's anything left of him when that time comes. (Runs off stage)  
  
?: Help me!!  
  
Sean: Hold on, I'm coming!  
  
?: Ow, that hurts! 


	9. Ch8: Fresh Meat

Disclaimer: I don't own any part of Love Hina, just my own character.  
  
Sean: Well, let's get this over with.  
  
Shinobu: What do you mean?  
  
Sean: I'm getting ready to be dissapointed by another empty house. (Sticks head out on stage.) Well, what do you know.  
  
Naru: What do you mean by that?  
  
Sean: There's somebody out there.  
  
Niak: Yep, just me.  
  
Sean: Thanks for showing up.  
  
Niak: No problem. I like this story so far.  
  
Sean: Thank you. I'm glad somebody does besides me.  
  
Niak: Yeah. I have only one problem with it right now.  
  
Sean: ANd what might that be?  
  
Niak: The last couple chapters looked a bit too much like Dragonball Z.  
  
Sean: Yeah, I know. I realized that while finishing up chapter 6, but I couldn't think of a better way to do that fight scene. Trust me, don't expect stuff like that again for a while, if ever.  
  
Niak: Good. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.  
  
Sean: That reminds me, there's something I need to take care of. Excuse me for a minute.  
  
Niak: Go ahead.  
  
(Sean walks over to where the mystery figure, who is tied to a chair. The other girls have gathered around the newbie.)  
  
Kitsune: So, who wants to remove the mask?  
  
Suu: Ooh, let me do it!  
  
Kitsune: Alright, but be quick about it.  
  
(Suu grins and removes the mask. A gasp escapes from the girls' mouths.)  
  
Naru: So that's your special guest, huh?  
  
Sean: Yep.  
  
?: What are you going to put me through?  
  
Sean: Oh, you'll find out. (Snickers and leaves for the stage)  
  
Kitsune: I think I'm going to enjoy this.  
  
?: I don't.  
  
Sean: Let's see, where was I... oh yeah. I think you'll enjoy this chapter. Frankly, I'm glad I'm doing this one in front of an actual live audience, even if it's only one person. Enjoy the show.  
  
(Niak claps)  
  
Sean (to himself): I wonder if I'll have to get used to the sound of one person clapping.  
  
* * * Chapter VIII: Fresh Meat * * *  
  
Tuesday, 7/9  
  
The party lasted all through the night. Everyone ended up falling asleep at various places in Sean's room. Sean was the first to wake up, at around 10:30. He had been asleep for about five and a half hours, which was pretty long considering he still had his magical ring and all, but it was probably because of the ordeal he had been through the previous day. The alcohol no doubt had a hand in it as well, considering the amount of pain shooting through his brain.  
  
"Oh, man," Sean thought, holding his head, "is this what a hangover feels like? I don't know how Kitsune can stand it so many times."  
  
He soon became aware of something laying on top of him. He opened his eyes to find Kitsune, sound asleep, her head on his chest. At first, this got him a bit concerned about what he may have done in a drunken stupor, but he then noticed they were both still fully clothed, so he became certain that nothing had happened. His thoughts then turned to how he would get out from under her without waking her up. What would happen next would not help matters.  
  
Suddenly, Kitsune wrapped her arms around Sean, mumbling something about bearing her child. Sean knew she was dreaming, but he did not like where it was leading. Eager to get out of this situation before something regrettable happens, he pried himself loose as gently as he could so as not to wake her, or anyone else for that matter.  
  
As he got up off his futon, his surveyed the disaster area that had become his room; cans and bottles were everywhere. "I guess I'll clean this up later, when it's not so crowded," he thought.  
  
He walked out, being careful to close the door slowly behind him. He went to the kitchen to get some water and try to take care of his migraine. "If only it was this peaceful all the time," he said to himself as he filled his glass at the sink. After thinking about it for a moment, he added, "It would get boring real quick," as he lifted the glass to his lips.  
  
Feeling a bit better, Sean made his way to the living room to relax a bit. "I'm going to have to find something else to occupy my afternoons, now that my teaching career has ended."  
  
A couple hours later, the girls started to wake up. At first, they wondered why they were in Sean's room until they remembered the events of the previous night, or at least some of them. It took them a little while to realize the normal occupant of that room wasn't there.  
  
"Hey, where's Sean?" Naru asked.  
  
"I don't know," Kitsune said. She could have sworn she fell asleep on top of Sean, but she didn't want Naru to know that. "but I just had this strange dream--"  
  
"That might have turned into a nightmare if I wasn't awake at the time, trust me." Sean appeared in the doorway.  
  
"Sean, where were you?" Naru asked.  
  
"Making lunch."  
  
"Lunch?!" Shinobu's eyes grew wide as she searched for a clock.  
  
"Yes, lunch. When it's 12:32 in the afternoon, it's a bit late for breakfast."  
  
"Why didn't you wake us?" Motoko asked, upset that her daily routine had been disturbed.  
  
"I don't know what you would have done if I gave you a rude awakening; and I intend to keep it that way."  
  
"Let's go eat!" Suu said, as she bounded towards the door before she was caught by Sean, mid-bounce.  
  
"You don't need to go anywhere. I took the liberty to bring the food with me." Sean stepped out for a second and returned, pushing a cart full of food. "Dig in."  
  
While everyone began eating, Sean tended to those with hangovers. Obviously, Kitsune was one of them, but Naru and Motoko were a bit buzzed as well.  
  
When everyone finished eating, Sean suggested they visit the springs. Nobody objected. Sean grabbed his blindfold and started to walk out before Naru took hold of his arm.  
  
"I don't think that will be necessary anymore." She snatched the blindfold out of his hand and tossed it aside.  
  
Sean raised an eyebrow. "Oookay, if you say so."  
  
Everyone reconvened to the hot springs to bathe and chat. The girls were all wearing swimsuits, which seemed to take a load off Sean's mind.  
  
"Well, I think yesterday proved without a doubt that we care for each other a great deal." Sean glanced at Motoko and their eyes met for a split-second. She started to blush, but quickly recovered. "I thank you again for what you did to help me."  
  
"We should be the ones thanking you," Naru said.  
  
"No, if I had thought of another way to solve Motoko's problem, that whole thing never would have happened."  
  
"Problem?"  
  
"Yes. She was the only one among you--as far as I know--who hadn't fully accepted me. Deep down, she had no respect for me as a warrior and the only solution I could think of was to ask her if I could become her student. That's when Naru showed up on the roof and everything got blown out of proportion."  
  
"I'm so sorry," Naru said.  
  
"Don't worry about it; you couldn't have known. If we had told you the truth, you might have been a bit jealous of the two of us spending so much time together, which brings me to my next point. I have become aware that there might be some competition for my affection in the future, if it hasn't started already." He paused for a second. It looked like he was trying to find the right words, and not too successfully, either. "Geez, how should I say this? Um, I just want to set the record straight; what I would do for one of you, I would do for you all--age permitting of course."  
  
That last part got some strange looks from the girls, especially Naru. "Oh man, that didn't come out right at all," he thought out loud.  
  
"Aren't you usually so good with words?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Not what it comes to something like this, I'm not."  
  
Naru decided to help Sean out. "I think what he meant was that he doesn't intend to prefer one of us over another, is that right?"  
  
A sigh of relief came from Sean. "Yes, thank you."  
  
Kitsune chuckled a bit. "Does that mean that you would be willing to--"  
  
"Let's not talk about that right now, okay?"  
  
"Well, when can we talk about it?"  
  
"Sometime when Suu and Shinobu are out of earshot."  
  
"Alright. Suu, Shinobu, please leave."  
  
"Kitsune!!" Sean and Naru said in unison.  
  
"Okay, okay, maybe later."  
  
"Maybe." All of a sudden, Sean shook his head.  
  
"What's wrong?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"There's someone coming."  
  
"What?" Motoko asked. "Where?"  
  
"Up the front steps. I put sensors there so we wouldn't have any… unexpected guests." He raised a finger and a ball of light appeared and flew off.  
  
"What was that?" Naru asked.  
  
"A camera of sorts. I can see what it sees. Now, let's take a look at our visitor…"  
  
---  
  
A young man made his way slowly up the steps, apparently in deep thought. He carried two suitcases and a backpack with him. He did not seem to be aware of a small glowing sphere hovering among the trees behind him.  
  
---  
  
"Well, who is it?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well," Sean said, his eyes emitting a pale glow, "for starters, it's a guy."  
  
"A guy?!" Motoko said, clenching a fist. "Why is a guy coming here?"  
  
"I don't know that, now do I?"  
  
"What does he look like?" Kitsune asked, a small grin on her face.  
  
"Hmm, about 5 and a half feet tall, black hair, glasses similar to mine."  
  
"I'll get rid of him." Motoko started to get up.  
  
Sean made a devilish grin. "No. I have a better idea."  
  
Kitsune recognized that smile. She has used that expression herself many times before; she knew he was planning something. "What do you think we should do?"  
  
"I think you and Naru should go greet our guest."  
  
"That's it?" Kitsune asked. She was a bit disappointed that this was his big idea.  
  
"Nope. Don't even let him introduce himself. Just get him to my room. On the way, make things very… uncomfortable for him, if you catch my drift."  
  
"You don't mean--" Naru started.  
  
"--using our feminine wiles to drive him crazy." Kitsune knew where Sean was going.  
  
"Exactly. Use any means necessary to make an awkward situation. By looking at him, I don't think it will take much effort."  
  
"What should we wear?" Kitsune wondered out loud.  
  
"You could change into towels for all I care, as long as you eventually herd him to my room. I'll be there watching the show."  
  
"Sure thing." Naru said, beginning to like the idea of torturing the intruder. They got up to get ready.  
  
"Have fun. Take your time."  
  
"What about us?" Suu asked, wanting to be part of the plan.  
  
"The rest of you will be helping me set up the rest of my plan in my room. We'll follow up his torture in heaven with torture in hell."  
  
"You're not going to hurt him, are you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Nah, by the luggage he's carrying, he plans on staying for a while. If that's the case, Motoko and Naru will get him soon enough."  
  
"Hold on, I thought you said you would be watching Naru and Kitsune," Motoko said, a bit confused.  
  
"We will. You remember that light I sent? I'll get the images to be displayed on the TV in my room. We'll all enjoy the show."  
  
---  
  
The young man eventually made it to the front door of Hinata-Sou. He looked the building over a bit before knocking.  
  
A few seconds later, the door opened to reveal two goddesses in swimsuits standing before him.  
  
"Hello there." One of them said. She had beautiful… hair. Yeah, that's it, long, beautiful, brown hair.  
  
The man was struck dumb by the sight of such beauty; so much so that he couldn't form whole words. "Uh, um…"  
  
"Look what you did, Naru," said the other one. She was more… more… "I think you killed another one." She snapped her fingers in the man's face and he fell backwards. "Yup. This always happens whenever a guy comes by; he sees one of us and drops dead. We lose more men that way."  
  
---  
  
Sean was laughing hysterically at the sight. "This is priceless."  
  
---  
  
"Well," the short haired one said, "let's go put him with the others." She picked him up and slung him over her shoulder. Naru picked up the man's luggage and followed.  
  
The supposedly deceased had his eyes open wide the whole time, but his brain had stopped functioning. He suddenly found himself being carried and the first thing he saw that registered was the one named Naru. He had a wonderful view of her--  
  
Blood immediately sprayed from his nose, startling both of the girls. The one carrying him set him on his feet.  
  
"So you're still alive. That's a first. Can you speak?" The man slowly nodded. "I'm not convinced."  
  
"Um, your pretty?"  
  
"Well, it's a start. Come with us." She started walking in the direction of the stairs.  
  
"Um, Kitsune…" Naru started.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Look." Naru pointed to Kitsune's bikini bottom; it was covered in blood.  
  
"Oh, I see."  
  
The man was horrified. "I'm so sorry about that."  
  
"Don't worry your cute little head about it." She smiled and began to remove the stained part of her swimsuit.  
  
"Um, are you sure you should be doing that here?" Naru asked. "I mean with him right there and all--"  
  
"Don't worry," Kitsune said, bending over in the process of taking off her bikini bottom, "It's probably nothing a man his age hasn't seen before, right?" She stood up straight and looked at the man, who looked completely paralyzed. She moved her head closer. "Right?" He fainted, falling forward. Kitsune caught him and shrugged her shoulders. "I guess not."  
  
"Let's get him in Sean's room before he wakes up." Naru said.  
  
Sean heard a knock on his door about a minute later. He surveyed the handiwork he, along with Motoko, Suu and Shinobu had accomplished before opening the door. He found two girls wearing one and a half swimsuits, one of them carrying their visitor, still passed out.  
  
"Great job, girls. We'll take it from here, but you're free to stay and watch."  
  
"No thanks," Naru said. "We have to go wash off the blood."  
  
"Your loss." Sean said as Kitsune handed the victim to him. He walked back inside his room, closing the door behind him.  
  
The unfortunate man woke up in complete darkness. It took him a little while to realize he was bound to a chair. He started to fear for his life. Suddenly a light appeared above him out of nowhere, bathing him in a pale glow. "What's going on?" He thought out loud.  
  
A pair of red, glowing eyes appeared out of the darkness. "He's a cute one, isn't he?" The girl's voice sounded quite young.  
  
The eyes become accompanied by three more pairs. Another voice was heard. "Yes, I agree." This one sounded a bit older and with quite an accent.  
  
"You think so? Seems a bit scrawny to me." The third voice was more mature than the others, not to mention lacking emotion.  
  
"What are you going to do to me?" The frightened man asked.  
  
The first voice gave the response. "I'm not sure. What are we going to do with him?"  
  
The next voice came as a shock to the prisoner; it was a guy. "Well, I have something in mind, but first we should find out who this is, so we can laugh as we read the obituaries later on.  
  
"WHAT??!!!" The man was in hysterics.  
  
"Calm down, we won't hurt you… yet."  
  
"What do you want to know?!"  
  
"First off, what's your name?"  
  
"K-K-Keitaro Urashima."  
  
"Does that name ring a bell with any of you?"  
  
"Come to think of it," the mature female voice said, "I recognize that name 'Urashima.'"  
  
"My grandmother owns this place," Keitaro said. "I was hoping I could see her about spending a few days here."  
  
"I hate to inform you, but--" The male voice started.  
  
"Is she dead?!"  
  
"If she is, it wasn't because of me. Have you heard anything about her?"  
  
"Yeah," The foreign girl said. "She went out on a worldwide tour about a month ago."  
  
"What about my aunt Haruka? I didn't see her at the tea shop she owns down the hill."  
  
"Haruka left on her honeymoon about a week after your supposed grandmother did."  
  
"That was close to when I showed up, wasn't it?" The male voice inquired.  
  
"Actually, it was the day before you arrived." The mature voice confirmed.  
  
"Huh. I would like to talk with him alone for a bit, if you please." Three pairs of eyes vanished while the remaining pair turned purple.  
  
"What's happening?" Keitaro was getting really scared at this point.  
  
"Nothing that will harm you--if you cooperate."  
  
"Sure, anything."  
  
"What lead you to arrive here? Be careful with your explanation; I'll know if you lie."  
  
"I have tried to get into Toudai for two years, unsuccessfully. My parents finally got fed up with my failures and kicked me out of the house."  
  
"I see. Why do you keep trying to get to Tokyo U? Why not some other college that's not as hard to enter?"  
  
"I made a promise when I was young. I always try to make good on my promises."  
  
"Ah. Go on."  
  
"Well, I didn't know anyone else to turn to except my grandmother, who owns this inn. I used to be here quite a bit when I was young; it was here that I actually made that promise all those years ago."  
  
"Do you remember who you made the promise with?"  
  
"Um, no. She moved away soon after the promise was made and I forgot what she looked like and what her name was as time went by."  
  
"And yet you still hold the promise close to your heart."  
  
"Yes. Will you allow me to stay here?"  
  
"I'm not sure. You see, there are certain circumstances that conspire against you on that part."  
  
"I'm not following you."  
  
"You haven't been here in quite a while, have you?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Well, since that last time you've been here, this "inn" has been changed to a girls' dormitory."  
  
"What?! Then why are you here?"  
  
"I'll explain that later. In the meantime, let's shed some more light on the situation." The eyes disappeared for a moment. The light above Keitaro's head vanished and was soon replaced by what looked like a door opening. He felt the ropes binding him loosen and he was able to stand.  
  
"Go to the living room; I trust you know where it is. There, I will introduce you to the girls."  
  
"Wait a second, who are you?" There was no response. "Hello?" Not knowing what else to do, he left through the portal and found himself in a familiar hallway. He made his way to the living room and found six people seated there; five girls and one guy. Two of the girls he recognized and his face started to get a bit flushed.  
  
Sean noticed the new guy fidgeting. "Calm down. Have a seat." He nervously sat next to Naru on a couch who, along with Kitsune, had changed into something not so revealing. "First of all, I'd like to apologize for what you have been put through. It was all my idea."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Yes, I knew you were coming and the plan formed in my head."  
  
"Wait, how did you know I was coming?"  
  
"I'll explain later. Anyway, I decided to have a little fun with you. To be honest, it was great to see a guy being tortured here besides me."  
  
"How much have you been through?" Keitaro raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Trust me, you'll find out soon enough. I hope you don't bruise easily."  
  
Keitaro eyed each girl and he gulped.  
  
"I have decided to let you stay here, at least until either your aunt or your grandmother returns." The girls seemed to be shocked by the idea.  
  
"What?!" Naru was almost to the point of sending Keitaro through the roof.  
  
"Oh, come on. He has nowhere else to go."  
  
"Why do you think we would let a pervert like him into this place?" Motoko asked.  
  
"You accepted me."  
  
"Well, you're different."  
"In what way?"  
  
"Well, you're not exactly a pervert."  
  
"Oh, please. I have fantasies and desires just like any other man. I just have enough will power not to act on them. Now tell me, what makes you think this man isn't capable of the same?"  
  
"Well, his sudden nose bleed was a bit of a sign," Kitsune noted. "I found that out first hand."  
  
Keitaro blushed. "Sorry about that, but how would you have reacted in my place?"  
  
"If nosebleeds are your biggest concern--"  
  
"No, he may act perverted, try to peek at us or something," Motoko said.  
  
"Well, considering how badly you treated me when I didn't actually do anything--"  
  
"That was just a misunderstanding." Naru said.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Many, many misunderstandings."  
  
"I guess he can stay for a while," Kitsune said. "He pretty cute." Keitaro blushed.  
  
"Then I guess I should introduce everyone. My name is Sean. They are Narusegawa Naru, Konno Mitsune--we know her as Kitsune--Aoyama Motoko, Kaolla Suu, and Maehara Shinobu. Keitaro Urashima, we welcome you to Hinata-Sou."  
  
"Thank you. Um, where am I going to stay?"  
  
"My room." Sean answered.  
  
"Why your room?" Naru asked.  
  
"You want me to put him in your room instead?"  
  
"Uh, your room's fine."  
  
"That's what I thought. Let's go unpack your stuff."  
  
As the two guys unpacked Keitaro's things, a question kept nagging at his mind. "I was wondering, why are you here?"  
  
"I work here. I'm the landlord."  
  
"How did you get this dream job?"  
  
"I applied for it, how else? And this didn't quite turn out to be a dream job. I've been beaten up more times then I care to count. Like you, I thought this was a hotel. I found out what this place really was after I came to from my first thrashing."  
  
"Ouch. Is that going to happen to me?"  
  
"Yes. Yes it will. If I couldn't escape being hit, you can't either. I actually went out of my way to prevent beatings, to no avail."  
  
"Gulp."  
  
"Don't worry, I'll take measures to try to keep you alive."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Let me tell you a few things to watch out for. First, Naru is quick to anger, and will send you through the roof if you even look like you're doing anything perverted. Motoko will usually come running as well, eager to take you out with her kendo skills. Any way you look at it, expect a long walk back until I can remedy the situation.  
  
Second, Kitsune is out for her own best interest. If she takes a liking to you, she may be trying to get something from you; money most likely. Also, she can get really out of hand when she's drunk, which happens more often then I'd like.  
  
Third, Suu is a genius when it comes to machines, and she won't hesitate to try out her latest work on us. She also tends to give me a swift kick to the head in place of a greeting; except her to do the same to you."  
  
"Does she hate you or something?"  
  
"Oh no. That's just her way of being playful, but it hurts like hell. Finally, be careful what you say and do around Shinobu. She's prone to blushes and tears. She's especially embarrassed when you compliment her on her cooking."  
  
"Thank you for your advise."  
  
"No problem. Then there's me. You really don't have to worry about my well-being. I've survived more things in my time here than any normal man should. Probably because of my abilities."  
  
"Abilities?"  
  
"Yeah. I have the ability to use magic spells."  
  
Keitaro was amazed to little tidbit. "Do the girls know about this?"  
  
"Are you kidding? I've been teaching them how. My spells were the reason why I knew you were coming, and also how you saw those glowing eyes before."  
  
"Oh. Do you think you can teach me spell craft?"  
  
"Sure thing. It will be on a one-on-one thing, since my classes with the girls just ended yesterday--oh man, what a day yesterday was."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Dinner's ready!"  
  
"Thanks Naru, we'll be right down. I'll tell you all the stories of my time here later. You go ahead downstairs, I'll finish up here."  
  
"Thanks."  
  
"No problem."  
  
Less than five minutes later, there was a scream and a crash. Sean hurried to the kitchen to investigate.  
  
"What happened? Wait, don't tell me." Sean looked at the ceiling and found a gaping hole. "Mm hmm. That started sooner than I thought. I'll be right back."  
  
Sean teleported out of the kitchen and appeared in mid air, a flying Keitaro about a foot away. "It's like I told you; you can't avoid the beatings. What did you just do?"  
  
"I tripped and fell on Naru's breasts."  
  
"Yeah, that'll do it. Are you okay?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine."  
  
"Hmm. You may not need as much help as I thought if you're not hurt by Naru's punch. The first time I got hit by her, I woke up three hours later. What do you say we get back before reentry?"  
  
"Fine with me."  
  
The pair suddenly appeared in their room.  
  
Keitaro was stunned, but in a pleasant way. "Wow. That was cool."  
  
"Thanks. It's kind of become second nature to me after a while. You'd be surprised how many times I've had to repair the ceiling. Speaking of which, we should head back to the kitchen before Shinobu starts worrying again. Come on, I'll give you an escort there." Sean opened the door and stepped out just in time for Shinobu to run headlong into him, knocking both of them to the ground.  
  
"Are you alright?" A concerned Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sean responded, "just a little dazed is all. What going on, Shinobu?"  
  
"I just wanted to know if he was hurt on something." She blushed a bit as she said that. Sean couldn't tell if it was because she was thinking of Keitaro or the fact that the two of them had ended up with their faces mere inches apart after the impact.  
  
"Um, he's fine; better than I'd hoped in fact. He can really take a punch." Keitaro blushed at the compliment.  
  
"How did she know to come here to find this out?" Keitaro asked after he regained his composure.  
  
"I've made a habit of going to my room--one way or another--to recover after each of my 'flights.'"  
  
"Ah."  
  
Suddenly, Shinobu seemed to realize the precarious position she was in. Her face became a bright red. "Uh…" She had no idea what to do. Could she…? Should she…?! Time seemed to stand still; at least until--  
  
"What the hell are you doing to Shinobu?!" Naru screamed as she ran to punch Sean's face in.  
  
Sean glanced around the young girl's head and saw Naru speeding towards them. He shoved Shinobu out of the way just in time for Naru to give him a blow that sent him through the floor to land in the hallway below in a shower of splintered wood and glass shards.  
  
Keitaro was speechless. He thought he had it bad after his attack, but after seeing Naru send his new friend down to the ground floor, he began to realize what risks really came with being here. "To think he has to go through things like this all the time," He thought. "No wonder he was so concerned about my health, but he should be more focused on keeping himself alive then worry about me."  
  
When Sean tossed Shinobu, she ended up with her face against the wall; tears started to form in her eyes. "Why did you do that, Sean?" There was no response. "Sean?" She turned over to find a gaping hole in the floor where Sean used to be. "Sean?!" She made her way to the hole and found Sean sprawled out below her. He wasn't moving and his glasses were shattered.  
  
With tears streaming down her cheeks, Shinobu looked up at Naru, who stood nearby, still clenching her fist. "Why did you do that to him?!"  
  
Naru saw the angry look on Shinobu's face and started to regret what she had done. "Um, I thought he was trying to take advantage of you, so--"  
  
"He was doing no such thing!" Keitaro said.  
  
"He's right," Shinobu said, a bit more calmly. "I ran over here to see if Keitaro was alright and I ran into Sean, literally, and we just happened to land that way." She started to blush. "If anything, I was thinking about taking advantage." This last part provoked some strange looks from the other two.  
  
"What?" Naru was shocked to hear something like that coming from someone so young. "Do you even know what you're saying?"  
  
Shinobu's red face grew brighter, if that was even possible. She was about to respond when she heard something below.  
  
"Sean, what happened to you?!" The three upstairs looked down the hole to find Kitsune and Motoko kneeling over him. Suu soon joined them.  
  
"I haven't seen him this beaten up in quite a while." Motoko noted.  
  
"Sean, can you hear me?" Kitsune said, getting worried. There was no response.  
  
Motoko looked at the three residents above them. "Naru, what did he do this time?"  
  
Naru looked ashamed. "Nothing."  
  
Kitsune snapped her head to face her. "Nothing? You did this to him over NOTHING?!!"  
  
"Well, if you saw what it looked like--"  
  
Shinobu interrupted Naru with an explanation of her own. "I ran into Sean in the hallway. I landed on top of him." Shinobu started blushing again. "We almost kissed."  
  
Kitsune looked at her skeptically. "Who would have started it, you or him?"  
  
Shinobu continued to blush, refusing to make eye contact.  
  
Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "Really?" She glanced at Motoko, grinning. "Looks like someone's starting to grow up a bit, doesn't it?"  
  
"I think we should worry more about Sean right now, don't you?"  
  
"Oh, right." They returned their attention to the injured man. There was a red imprint of Naru's fist right between his eyes, plainly visible under what was left of his glasses. Pieces of glass were covering his face, mostly in the eyes. It looked quite painful and Sean would probably be writhing in agony--that is, if he was conscious.  
  
"I don't know if he can recover from this, even with magic." Motoko said grimly.  
  
Tears started to pour out of Naru's eyes. She couldn't bear to see her deadly handiwork any longer. She turned away and rushed into Sean's room. Keitaro, worried about Naru's emotional condition, followed to find her climbing up the trap door to her room. "Are you alright, Naru?" He called out to her.  
  
"No," Naru said. "I went too far this time. He'll never forgive me for this one. NEVER!!!" She then slammed the door shut behind her.  
  
* * * End of Chapter VIII * * *  
  
Keitaro: Well, considering Sean is a bit... incapacitated, I'll have to give you the send off this time around. (Sigh) I hope he gets better soon. Also, Naru seems to be taking this a bit hard. I wonder what will happen to the both of them. I guess we'll all find that out next time, won't we? See you then! Please respond! 


	10. Ch9: Love is Blind

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Keitaro: Wow, who knew adding me to the story would bring such a reaction. I guess I'm just what this fanfic needed.  
  
Kitsune: Oh, get over yourself.  
  
Keitaro: Shouldn't you be looking after Sean right now?  
  
Kitsune: He'll be fine.  
  
Keitaro: (Raises an eyebrow) Are you sure about that?  
  
Kitsune: Yes, I'm sure. Why do you ask?  
  
Keitaro: Look behind you.  
  
(Sean appears, staggering blindly, bumping into things as he goes along.)  
  
Sean: What happened? Why do my eyes hurt?  
  
Kitsune: You shouldn't be up and around.  
  
Sean: I have to start the next chapter.  
  
Kitsune: And why does it have to be you?  
  
Sean: Probably because I'm the one who is supposed to be writing this story, in case you forgot.  
  
Kitsune: Nevermind that. You should sit down before you hurt someone.  
  
(Kitsune guides Sean back to his room.)  
  
Keitaro: Who says we need stunt doubles for this story? Enjoy!  
  
* * * Chapter IX: Love is Blind * * *  
  
Wednesday, 7/10  
  
"Ow, that hurts!"  
  
"Hold still, I'm almost done," Kitsune said as she wrapped a fresh bandage around Sean's eyes. "You know, this was much easier when you were knocked out."  
  
"Oh, thank you very much." Sean said in a sarcastic tone. He had just woken up a few minutes before.  
  
"You're welcome." Kitsune responded in a similar way.  
  
"Give it to me straight. What's wrong with me?"  
  
"You're eyes were damaged pretty badly from the shards of your broken glasses," Motoko said. "We don't know if you will ever see again."  
  
"Please tell me you're kidding."  
  
"I'm afraid not."  
  
"Weren't you concerned about this happening before?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"It was never really an issue."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Sean always used to wear some stupid blindfold almost everywhere he went," Kitsune said.  
  
"Hey, I wore that 'stupid blindfold' so I could protect your privacy and your decency. To that effect, I also hoped it would prevent beatings. A whole lot of good that did. Maybe it will work better for you, Keitaro."  
  
"I don't think so. If it didn't work for you, it won't work for me."  
  
"I guess you're right, but who's going to get you back here after Naru and Motoko hit you? With me in this condition, I won't be of too much help."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I'll find my own way."  
  
"No, I don't want Shinobu to worry about you like she has for me. I'll figure out a way to help you out until you're able to use magic yourself."  
  
"Thanks, but it's not necess--"  
  
"I insist."  
  
"Alright, if you feel that strongly about it."  
  
"You won't regret it. For now, I think I'll head out to the hot spring to relax and think."  
  
"I'll guide you there," Kitsune said. "That is, if you want me to."  
  
"Yes, thank you. With my vision the way it is now, I'd probably fall down the stairs or something."  
  
---  
  
Naru was in the spring at the time. She was still shaken up by the incident the previous day. She was trying to think of ways to make it up to Sean, but to no avail. When she saw Kitsune and Sean arrive, she freaked and hid behind a rock before she could be seen.  
  
---  
  
Kitsune helped Sean change into his swim trunks and guided him into the water. After being thanked once again, Kitsune went to leave him alone with his thoughts. "Call me when you're ready to leave, okay?"  
  
"Sure thing." After Kitsune left, Sean started thinking out loud, completely unaware of the eavesdropper at the other end of the bath.  
  
"Where have I gone wrong? The more I try to prevent being hit, to worse they get. Someone up there must hate me or something. Almost any man on earth would kill to spend even five minutes with any of those goddesses, while I've been here for weeks without trying anything and I get punished for it; that does not make any sense! Hmm, maybe I should try to get together with… what am I saying?! Suu probably doesn't like me like that, Motoko definitely doesn't like me that way and Kitsune would end up going after my wallet. Besides, Naru would probably get jealous about it, but it wouldn't work out with her either, because she's probably still pissed off at me about something. Also, if I chose any of those four, Shinobu might start thinking I don't care about her anymore, but she's out of the question too, since the others would kill me for even trying.  
  
"Hey, that's an idea. Maybe I should walk in on them in the changing room one of these days and let Motoko and Naru kill me and end it all. No, that wouldn't work either; Shinobu would probably be scarred for life. I guess there's no way out of this mess; even death isn't an option. Damn it, there's nothing I can do!"  
  
"Uh, Sean?" The voice took Sean by surprise.  
  
"Shinobu?! How did you know I was here?"  
  
"I followed you and Kitsune. Do you mind if I join you?"  
  
"No, of course not." Shinobu shyly stepped into the water, a towel covering her; as if Sean could see anything if he wanted to, which he didn't.  
  
"Um, did you mean what you said just now?"  
  
"Yes, I did, but the only reason I said that was because I thought I was alone."  
  
"I'm sorry. If you want me to leave--"  
  
"No, you don't have to go. Is there something you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. I just wanted to talk about what happened yesterday."  
  
"Oh. Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm more worried about you, what with your... your..."  
  
"My eyes."  
  
"Yeah. How are they feeling right now?"  
  
"Well, the pain has ended for now, but Kitsune's bedside manner could use a few adjustments. I don't know how well my eyes will recover, if at all. You shouldn't worry yourself about that right now."  
  
"I'll try."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"Uh, I was also wondering something else."  
  
"What about?"  
  
"What you said before about trying to be with some of us."  
  
"Oh yeah, that." Sean blushed. He had momentarily forgotten he had said it out loud.  
  
Shinobu was blushing as well. "Would you ever consider being... with me?"  
  
Sean's face grew a brighter shade of red; this topic of discussion had always been troublesome for him. "Well, sure I would Shinobu. You're a beautiful, nice, caring girl; any guy would like to be with you. The only problem with the two of us being together would be, like I mentioned before, that if the others ever caught wind of it, they would kill me on sight, accusing me of being a pedophile."  
  
"I understand." Shinobu stared at Sean's bandages for a little while, tears beginning to form. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"What do you mean? What could you of all people have to be sorry for?"  
  
"Well, if I didn't run into you yesterday, you would still be able to see right now."  
  
"Listen, there are things in this world that we may never understand. One of those things is fate. Take that last incident for example. I didn't know you were coming when I stepped out of my room, I didn't know we would land the way we did, I didn't know Naru would find us looking like that and I didn't know that wearing my glasses would be such a horrible, horrible mistake.  
  
"Sometimes, things happen that we don't expect and cannot prevent. That has been the basis for most of the beatings I've received here; just me being a victim of bad timing and unfortunate circumstances. Sometimes I wonder if I would be better off somewhere else."  
  
"You're not planning on leaving us, are you?"  
  
"I'm not sure. I have considered it, but I know none of you would like it if I did. You all would probably worry yourselves sick about me. Quite possibly the only one that wouldn't be concerned about my well being would be Naru; she'd probably just call me a coward for running away from my problems, even if she's one of them."  
  
"But why would you want to leave? Don't you like it here?"  
  
"Of course I do, it's just that I want to live to see old age, and I know seeing me die at the hands of one of your friends would be much worse than me simply leaving Hinata."  
  
"But I don't want you to go!"  
  
"I know you don't, but if it's in the best interest of the others, perhaps I should. If both Keitaro and I stay here for too long, Naru would probably end up raging 24 hours a day; there would never be a moment of peace here ever again, not to mention that the constant worrying for our safety would no doubt take its toll on you."  
  
"I don't care! Please don't leave!!" She held him close to her, tears streaming down her cheeks.  
  
"Shinobu, don't make this decision harder than it already is. Sure, you don't want to see me go, but Naru probably doesn't want to see me ever again. After what she saw--or what it might have led to--she may not want me within ten feet of you either. I'm just glad I got you out of the way of Naru's strike in time, or else you might have been hit by accident. I don't want to see you hurt again. I'm sorry I pushed you before, but I just wanted Naru to have a clear shot at me. Nobody else should experience the pain that I have felt almost everyday; I just hope that, someday, Naru will forgive me for all the things I've done." Tears started to appear from behind his bandage.  
  
That was the last straw. Naru couldn't believe what she was hearing. "That's it, I can't stand it any longer!"  
  
"Naru?!!" Sean and Shinobu said in unison.  
  
"How long have you been listening in?!" Sean asked.  
  
"I heard the whole thing."  
  
"Well, if that's true, then you know how I feel. Will you forgive me?"  
  
"Forgive you? Forgive YOU?!"  
  
"That doesn't sound good. Shinobu, I think you should leave before you get hurt."  
  
"No, wait. That's not what I meant."  
  
"Then what do you mean?"  
  
"All this time, I was hoping you would forgive me."  
Sean was a bit confused. "…What?"  
  
"It's true. I regret hitting you over literally nothing time and time again. I'm truly sorry about it, and I wish I could take it all back. I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't want to see me again, not the other way around."  
  
"Well, considering what's happened, actually seeing you again might be out of my control. However, if it was, I would like nothing more than seeing the smiling faces of you girls again."  
  
"I'm so sorry, Sean." Naru buried her face in Sean's chest. "I'm so sorry."  
  
"Don't worry, Naru. I'm here for you."  
  
"Does that mean you're staying?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Of course I'm staying. I wouldn't leave things like this. Apparently, I was mistaken about how Naru felt about me. I won't be going anywhere."  
  
"But what if you're never able to see again? How could you forgive me for doing such a horrible thing?" Naru asked.  
  
"Naru, I forgive you for what you did, so don't brood over it any longer. Even if my eyes never work again, I'll figure out something."  
  
Suddenly, an idea appeared in Shinobu's head. "What about that light you used to spy on Keitaro when he got here? Wouldn't that work?"  
  
"You know, that's a great idea! I'll have to modify it a bit, but it just might work! Thank you, Shinobu!" Shinobu blushed at hearing him praise her idea.  
  
"What would you have to change?" Naru asked, interested in the prospect of Sean sight being restored.  
  
"Well, before, the camera sent the images to my eyes. The way things are now, that won't work, but if I can get the images sent straight to my brain, bypassing my eyes, it might be able to simulate normal sight. Let's see…"  
  
Sean made a few awkward hand gestures and a ball of light appeared before them, albeit it was a bit ragged compared to the last one but it was still there.  
  
"Can you see anything?" Naru asked.  
  
"Not yet." His face had the look of total concentration to the task at hand. Slowly, the ball started to shift a bit, become more focused as Sean made slight adjustments to it. Eventually, pictures started to appear in Sean's mind. They were very hazy and he couldn't be sure if they were real or imaginary, but he continued his efforts until the image became clear. He saw the three of them seated together in the water, there were remnants of tears on all three of them. He took note of the bandages around his eyes.  
  
The girls saw a smile appear on Sean's face. "Can you see us?" Shinobu asked eagerly.  
  
"Let me put it this way; I don't think these white bandages suit me very well; and neither do your tears."  
  
"Yay! Sean can see us again!" Shinobu hugged Sean as hard as she could.  
  
"Thank goodness." Naru said. As an afterthought, she asked, "Since it will be serving as your eyes, will it have to be near you at all times?"  
  
"I don't think so. If it's like the last one, I could send it forward, back, around corners, whatever. There could be some real advantages to this kind of perspective."  
  
"How far can it go?"  
  
"I don't exactly know. What do you say we find out?" The glowing sphere flew in the direction of the door. When it got there, unexpected resistance was met by the closed portal. "Well, I now know that thing's solid," Sean noted.   
  
"Do you want one of us to go open the door?" Naru asked.  
  
"Not yet. I'll try to find an open window or something first." The light started to move, but stopped and returned to the door. "On second thought…" For a moment, the ball glowed bright blue and the door opened on it's own. "Having this kind of vantage point for my spells might come in handy." The ball entered the dorm and sped off down the hallway.  
  
"Where is it going?" Naru wondered.  
  
"You'll see, or rather, I'll see." Sean said, smiling.  
  
---  
  
Keitaro walked down the third floor hallway when he happened upon Motoko as she stepped out of her room. "Hey, Motoko."  
  
"What do you want?" She said without a hint of emotion.  
  
"Uh, I was wondering where Naru went. I haven't seen her since yesterday and I'm getting really worried about her."  
  
"I haven't seen her."  
  
"Oh well, thanks anyway." As he turned away, he tripped over his own feet and fell flat on his back. From his new viewpoint, he had a nice view up Motoko's skirt. "Um, uh..."  
  
Motoko noticed where Keitaro was and reached instinctively for her sword. "You no good pervert, I don't care if Sean does want you here, I'm going to kill you right now!"  
  
Keitaro screamed apologies as Motoko raised her blade above her head. But before she swung the blade down, a strange ball of light suddenly appeared before them.  
  
"What the hell is that?" Keitaro asked, scrambling to his feet.  
  
"Looks like that thing Sean used to spy on you when you arrived."  
  
"So that's how he knew I was here."  
  
"In part, yes." Motoko seemed to calm down at the sight of the sphere until she realized it was hovering at about breast level. "And it looks like he's spying on me!" She swung her sword at the ball before it could get out of the way.  
  
---  
  
"AH!" Sean's scream startled Naru and Shinobu. He was holding his chest and his breathing was a bit heavy.  
  
"What's wrong?!" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I found Motoko, that's what's wrong! She was just about to rip Keitaro a new one when 'I' showed up and stopped her. Now I'm the new target."  
  
"Why? Did you get a look at her?" Naru asked suspiciously.  
  
"It must have seemed that way! AH!" Sean flinched, but what at Naru and Shinobu could not be sure.  
  
---  
  
Much to Motoko's surprise, her attack passed right through the sphere without so much as a scratch. She attacked again. This time, the sphere made an effort to get out of the way. Keitaro just watched in amazement and wonder at the moving light bulb.  
  
Seemingly in panic, the light floated off in the direction of the stairs. Motoko wasn't far behind. "You won't get away from me!" She kept swiping at the apparently scared orb, but whenever she hit, no damage was done. "Why won't you die?!" She said angrily, not bothering to wonder why she was yelling at a ball of light.  
  
Eventually, the two got to the living room, causing a major scene. Kitsune and Suu were there watching the whole thing in amazement. When Motoko chased the light to the bath, Kitsune, Suu and Keitaro, who just reached the bottom of the stairs, went after her.  
  
---  
  
"Get ready girls. The gang's about to arrive."  
  
"What?" Naru was confused by what he said until she saw Sean's light shoot through the open door with Motoko close behind it. The others soon followed, including an exhausted Keitaro.  
  
"Stay still you little--"  
  
"Calm down, Motoko," Sean said. "Do you even realize who foolish you look right now? I mean, just think about what you're yelling at, for goodness sake!"  
  
Motoko soon realized this and her face turned a light pink, but quickly recovered. "Well, why is that thing up on the third floor anyway?"  
  
"I was checking to see how far it could go. I guess Keitaro should be lucky it happened along when it did, or else he'd be in a bad way right now."  
  
"I guess I should thank you for bailing me out back there." Keitaro said.  
  
"No problem."  
  
"Well, what did you find out from it's little journey?" Shinobu asked, eager to find out herself.  
  
"For starters, it can pick up sound, and it can't be damaged. On that note, Motoko, could you not do that ever again?"  
  
"What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Hmm, I think a demonstration is in order. Let me borrow you sword for a moment." Sean's voice did not sound exactly pleasant.  
  
Motoko became very suspicious. "Why do you want my sword?"  
  
"Relax, I'm not going to hurt you, I'm just going to illustrate a point." He got up and started to walk rather gracelessly in Motoko's general direction. After a few steps, he turned his face to the floating ball, still a few feet away from Motoko; he could hardly stifle a laugh.  
  
"What's going on?" Kitsune asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Sean shook his head. "It'll sound stupid."  
  
"C'mon, tell us."  
  
"Well, it just feels weird watching myself walk and talk." The ball moved to behind and above Sean's head. "There, at least now I can't see my own face. I wonder how long it will take to get used to doing everything in the third-person."  
  
"You mean you can see through that thing?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yup. Shinobu gave me the idea."  
  
"Aw…" Shinobu blushed.  
  
"It's good that you were able overcome your disability," Motoko said.  
  
"Thank you. Let's see now, where was I--oh yeah, your sword, if you please." Sean moved a bit more steadily towards the swordswoman, who handed her katana to him with some reluctance.  
  
"What are you going to do, exactly?" Motoko asked suspiciously.  
  
"I'm going to show you what your attack on that ball of light behind me looked like first hand."  
  
"What?!!"  
  
"Like I said, I won't hurt you. I'll make it so the blade will pass through solid objects. Observe." Sean carefully waved his hand along the flat of the blade, which emitted a faint glow. He then held out his arm and swung the blade down towards it.  
  
"Wait, don't--" Shinobu started to say, but it was too late. The blade went into Sean's arm and passed straight through without resistance, leaving the arm unharmed.  
  
"See, I told you. You didn't have to worry anyway, since I took a precaution just in case it didn't work; I used the reverse side of the blade."  
  
"Actually, it wouldn't have been that much better." Motoko said.  
  
"Well, I knew it would have hurt either way, but at least while using the reverse side, my arm would still be connected to the rest of me. Now let me show you just how your attacks looked through my eyes." Sean swiped at his arm a few more times to double- and triple-check that the spell he placed on it was working properly and readied himself as he moved behind Motoko.  
  
Motoko was scared stiff, and everybody knew it. She did not know what to expect from the man wielding the sword behind her. All of a sudden, she saw something jut out in front of her. To her horror, she saw it was her own sword, sticking a good six inches out the front of her head, right between the eyes. As quickly as it appeared, it retracted back into her skull, but it reappeared a few more times, this time in sideways motions.  
  
"Did your heart skip a few beats just now?" Sean asked calmly. Motoko slowly nodded her head, her eyes as wide in shock. "I'm sorry I had to go about it that way, but it would have been hard to describe without seeing it first hand."  
  
"It's quite unnerving." Motoko said after she regained her composure.  
  
"Yes, it is. When you were swinging at that light before, that's what I saw. You almost gave me a heart attack doing that."  
  
"I apologize. I didn't know."  
  
"No harm done. I just wanted to let you know about that. Keep it in mind next time you want to use that light for target practice." Sean handed her back the sword, then walked towards the door, the orb following close behind him.  
  
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'm just going to wander around for a while; I'll have to get used to this new way of seeing things. My, is going up and down stairs going to be an experience." When he reached the door, a thought occurred to him. "Hmm, I should probably think up a name for this thing sometime soon. Eh." Sean shrugged his shoulders and walked out.  
  
After Sean left, realization set in Kitsune's mind. "Hey, what were you three doing out here, anyway?"  
  
"Um," Naru started. "We were just talking about what happened yesterday."  
  
"Uh, huh." Kitsune was skeptical that was all that happened.  
  
"Well, he was also thinking about leaving Hinata," Shinobu said. "but we convinced him to stay."  
  
"I wonder how," Kitsune muttered.  
  
"It's not what you think." Naru said in her own defense.  
  
"Whatever. I guess things will be getting back to normal pretty soon. Um, Keitaro, what are you doing?" Kitsune noticed Keitaro had been staring at Naru for quite some time. Naru soon realized this as well.  
  
"PERVERT!!" Naru screamed her war cry as she got up to send the onlooker into orbit.  
  
"I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry…" Keitaro whimpered. He did not wish to go airborne again.  
  
Before Naru could get to her target, a ball of light appeared seemingly out of nowhere. It made contact with Keitaro and both of them vanished without a trace.  
  
"Back to normal," Kitsune muttered as she saw Naru storm off to the changing room. She knew Naru would get Keitaro eventually; it would just be a matter of time.  
  
* * * End of Chapter IX * * *  
  
Sean: That was interesting. I honestly didn't see that coming when I first started writing this chapter. By that I meant my solution to my blindness, not the part about Naru about to hit Keitaro. That should be old news by now. Who knew that was how Shinobu felt about me? I guess I should have, for starters. I can be so oblivious at times.  
  
Naru: Keitaro!!  
  
Keitaro: AH!!!  
  
(POW, CRASH)  
  
Sean: Shoot, I'm going to have to cut this a bit short. (Sigh) At least his thrashings are more justified than mine were. Oh well, see you next time around. Don't forget to respond! I'll take all the constructive critism I can get! Oh yeah, I'll be adding another character to the story in the next chapter; try to guess who!  
  
(Sean disappears) 


	11. Ch10: Out on the Town

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Dang, this one was a tough one to write. This one involves topics I don't exactly feel comfortable about, but I finally finished it. I hope this one goes over well.  
  
* * * Chapter X: Out on the Town * * *  
  
As the days wore on, Sean became more accustomed to his new method of vision. He spent most of his spare time walking the halls of Hinata-Sou, experimenting with camera angles and such.  
  
Keitaro on the other hand, had more on his mind than making observations. He had not only his own life to worry about, but also his efforts to get into Tokyo U. Most of his time outside of meals was spent studying, but whenever he would leave to eat or whatever the reason might have been, he would invariably get in trouble and get sent through the roof.  
  
This would, in effect, occupy Sean's time as well. He has started to limit his own use of magic to that of making emergency repairs and transporting the accident-prone Keitaro back before Shinobu starts worrying too much. He felt like he was getting into a rut.  
  
---  
  
Saturday, 7/20  
  
Naru opened the door between her room and that of the two male residents. "Sean?"  
  
Keitaro looked up from the textbook he was looking over. "He's not here right now. May I take a message?"  
  
"No, that's alright."  
  
"What were you going to ask him?"  
  
"Not that it's any of your business, but I was going to ask him if he wanted to help me with my studies."  
  
"I could help you if you want."  
  
"I guess. Your help is better than none--not by much though."  
  
"Oh, is he that much smarter than me?"  
  
"Well, considering he already graduated from college--"  
  
"Yeah yeah, I get it." Keitaro frowned at the implied insult to his intelligence.  
  
"Well, are you coming up or not?"  
  
"Yeah, just a sec." Even after that, Keitaro was eager to spend some peaceful time with Naru. He grabbed his books and went up to Naru's room.  
  
After a while, Naru became very frustrated. "No wonder you've failed the entrance exam so many times if you can't do such simple problems."  
  
"I'll take verbal assaults over physical ones any day," Keitaro thought.  
  
Naru continued to demean Keitaro until her door opened.  
  
"Hey Naru, have you seen Sean anywhere?" Kitsune asked from the doorway.  
  
"No, I haven't."  
  
"Darn." Kitsune started to grin. "Hmm, I was starting to wonder where Keitaro was."  
  
"We're just studying." Naru said.  
  
"Uh huh. Anyway, did Sean tell you where he went, Keitaro?"  
  
"Actually, he did mention something to me earlier."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Naru was surprised that Keitaro knew where Sean was and never said anything.  
  
"You never asked." That earned a slap in the face.  
  
"Tell me where we went!" Naru yelled.  
  
"Well, I don't know exactly, but he said he was going out."  
  
"Out?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yes, out. He didn't elaborate further on that. He mentioned that there was something he needed to do."  
  
"That's odd. What could be so important that it would make him leave without telling us? Did he tell you when he was coming back?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Let's go find him," Naru said, getting up.  
  
"What about our studies?"  
  
"I've had enough studying with you for one day."  
  
"Oh. Can I help you look, then?"  
  
"NO!" Naru was getting a bit sick of Keitaro at this point.  
  
"Okay, okay, I'll leave you alone." He then left via the trapdoor.  
  
"Idiot," Naru muttered under her breath, shacking her head.  
  
---  
  
"Why did I decide to do this, anyway?" Sean thought as he walked around downtown. "I really should have thought this through a little more."  
  
His big plan involved just wandering around town, perhaps striking up a conversation with someone--anyone. Of course, being the expert in the ways of being social that he was, he had absolutely no idea of how to go about something like that without looking like a freak.  
  
All things considering, looking weird was something he did not exactly need help with. His eyes had healed about as much as they ever would, but his normal eyesight never returned. Therefore, his eyes tend to wander aimlessly, completely unaware of what he would have been looking at. This was why he decided to wear sunglasses on his little excursion. Also, his new eyes, which he has dubbed PAVE (Personal Audio/Visual Enhancer), would have garnered unneeded attention, so he made it invisible for the duration. Despite all this, he felt very awkward, not only having to deal with his own shortcomings, but in a public setting, which only amplified his uneasiness.  
  
"Maybe I should have asked Kitsune to help me with this," he thought.  
  
---  
  
"Alright," Kitsune said. "Sean's out there somewhere, and we have to find him." She had gathered everyone in the living room, with the exception of Keitaro and Motoko, who weren't able to participate for one reason or another. "Now, does anyone have any idea of where a guy like Sean would go?"  
  
Nobody knew.  
  
"Great. That really narrows down the search."  
  
"What's the plan, Kitsune?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Well, we should spread out and search everywhere. Leave no stone unturned. If you find him, follow him; see where he goes, but try to keep out of sight."  
  
"With PAVE around him at all times, that won't be too easy," Naru noted.  
  
"Good point. We'll have to be very careful."  
  
"How are we going to keep in contact if we're all across town?" Shinobu wondered.  
  
"I'll take care of that," Suu said, then scampered up to her room. Minutes later, she came back with a bundle in her arms.  
  
"What's that?" Kitsune asked.  
  
Suu opened the package. "Long-range walkie-talkies. With these, we will be in constant contact."  
  
"Wonderful. If one of you find him, notify the rest of us of his movements and we'll get there as soon as we can. Now then, let's go get our man back!"  
  
"YEAH!!" The others joined in. What that, the Hinata Recovery Team set out to find their missing landlord.  
  
---  
  
Sean continued to wander about aimlessly, taking note of landmarks and the location of certain stores.  
  
"At least this trip wasn't a total loss," He said to himself. "After being here for as long as I have, it's good to finally find my way around town." Suddenly, he saw something that demanded his attention: a video arcade.  
  
"Hello," he thought. "This day just started to get more interesting." He began to make his way toward what had once been his escape from everyday life. He had played for a good number of years and it had become a part of his life; at least until he moved to Hinata without bringing his Game Boy Advance and Nintendo 64 with him.  
  
"I haven't played in so long, I hope I haven't forgotten how," he joked.  
  
---  
  
"Of all the things he could have done, he had to go out on the town without me. He should have told me he was leaving; I could have joined him and shown him some… interesting sights."  
  
---  
  
"Why did he have to leave? I hope he doesn't get hurt."  
  
---  
  
"Suu reporting: No sign of Sean as of yet. Continuing the search."  
  
---  
  
"Where would I go if I were him? Let's see…"  
  
---  
  
The day passed without incident. The girls could not find Sean while he spent the entire time in the arcade. After a few hours, he walked out with a smile on his face.  
  
"Oh man, I haven't had that much fun in a long time. That made this whole trip worthwhile."  
  
---  
  
"Shinobu here. I have just spotted Sean leaving the video arcade."  
  
"Good. Keep your distance. We'll be there as soon as we can. Keep us posted."  
  
"No problem."  
  
---  
  
"I should have known a guy like him would like video games," Kitsune said as she made her way across town.  
  
---  
  
Sean continued on his way without any real idea as to where he was going, completely oblivious of Shinobu tailing him. "I wonder what else I can find…"  
  
---  
  
"Hello, is anybody here?" Keitaro called. He knew they had gone out to find Sean, but didn't think it would take this long. "Oh well, I guess I should enjoy myself while they're gone."  
  
---  
  
"Hmm," Sean's paranoia seemed to get the better of him as he allowed himself a look back (while still facing forward) and found a certain blue-haired girl behind him. "Should have known they would come looking for me," he thought. "I guess I should have told them, but then I might not have enjoyed myself as I--" He was jerked out of his thoughts when he bumped into someone.  
  
"Excuse me, I--" Sean turned his gaze to the woman he had collided with; she was lying on the ground, unconscious. "Oh, crap." He knelt down and checked for a heartbeat. He groaned soon after. "I never was good at taking a pulse. It figures something like this would happen; just when--"  
  
"Something like what?" Sean was shocked to find the woman had opened her eyes and was looking straight at him.  
  
"Um, well…" Sean was momentarily stunned by her sudden recovery.  
  
"Do you mind if I get up?"  
  
Sean snapped out of his mindless state. "Oh, sorry." He helped her to her feet.  
  
"Thank you. Now, what was that you were saying before?" She said, brushing herself off.  
  
"Oh, that. It's just that I didn't think I bumped into you quite that hard."  
  
The woman chuckled. "You don't need to worry about that. It happens a lot."  
  
"What, passing out when you run into a cute guy?"  
  
She laughed again. "Ara ara, you're a funny one, aren't you?"  
  
"It depends; which part were you laughing at?" Sean couldn't help but smile at this point.  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"I suppose not. Um, I just want to apologize for bumping into you. I wasn't watching where I was going, and I--"  
  
The woman pressed her finger on Sean's lips. "Don't worry about it. I'm fine. In fact, I'd say the same about you."  
  
"Now who's the one making jokes?"  
  
"I'm serious. You're a cute guy."  
  
"Uh, thanks, I guess."  
  
"Why are you blushing?"  
  
"Um, it just that--"  
  
"You know what, I think I understand."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Yes. You haven't exactly been out with many girls, have you?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"I thought not. You know what, how about we get together later on?"  
  
Sean's mind was racing. How many times is he going to get a chance like this? "Uh, sure."  
  
"Where should we meet? Your place?"  
  
"That'll work. Maybe you could come over for dinner tonight."  
  
"I'd like that. By the way, my name's Mutsumi."  
  
"I'm Sean. It was nice meeting you."  
  
"It was nice meeting you, too. So, where is your place, exactly?"  
  
"Hinata-Sou."  
  
A confused look appeared on Mutsumi's face. "The girl's dorm?"  
  
"Yeah. It's a long story."  
  
"I see. You can tell me about it tonight."  
  
"Sure. How does 8:00 sound?"  
  
"Good. See you then."  
  
"See ya." Sean watched Mutsumi leave in wonder; he couldn't believe what had just happened. "Wow," he thought. "What a day this is turning out to be."  
  
"Hey, Sean!" Sean turned his gaze to find the girls running towards him.  
  
"Oh, hey." He still had his back to them.  
  
"Sean, what just happened?" Naru asked.  
  
"Unless I was hallucinating, I think we'll be having a guest for dinner tonight."  
  
"Is that so?" Kitsune asked, raising an eyebrow. Sean nodded. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder. "I'm proud of you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"I didn't think you had it in you."  
  
"That's reassuring."  
  
"Is this what this whole thing was about?" Naru asked. "Trying to get a date?"  
  
"Not really. I just wanted to spend some time outside the house. Honestly, I was starting to regret the decision until I found my salvation."  
  
"That girl?" Suu asked.  
  
"The arcade."  
  
"How long were you in there?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"A good three hours. I haven't had that much fun in a while."  
  
"Why didn't you ask one of us to join you?" Naru asked.  
  
"I needed to find my own way around. Besides, I felt uncomfortable enough without a few girls hanging around me the whole time. I'm not exactly a social person."  
  
"Yeah. Well, we found you, so let's head back," Kitsune said. "We have a lot to talk about."  
  
"I'm sure we do. Huh?" Sean looked up to find something screaming towards him. Before he could react, the object hit him squarely in the forehead, knocking him to the ground.  
  
"Wow, that has to be the worst timing I have even seen," Kitsune said when she recognized what hit him.  
  
"Ow, where am I?" Keitaro asked as he stood up, rubbing his head.  
  
"You're half way across town." Naru informed.  
  
"Wow, some coincidence that I would land near all of you. Have you found Sean yet?"  
  
"Yes we did, and so did you," Kitsune said.  
  
Keitaro was confused. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Look down." Keitaro looked in shock at Sean lying on the ground. "Did I do that?"  
  
"OW! Who fired a cannon at me?!" Sean said, sitting up in an instant. There was a nasty looking bump on his head.  
  
"Sorry, Sean."  
  
"Keitaro?! What did you do this time?"  
  
"I found Motoko in the spring."  
  
"That's it. We're going to have a little talk. Now." Sean's seemed a bit irritated to say the least at this last turn of events. Without concern for causing a scene, Sean teleported the whole group back to the dorm.  
  
"Motoko, where are you?" Sean said as soon as he arrived in the living room. He tried to sound pleasant. "I'd like to have a word with you."  
  
When Motoko didn't respond, Sean grew more upset. "So much for being friendly. MOTOKO!! YOU HAD BETTER GET YOU BUTT DOWN HERE BEFORE I START LOOKING FOR YOU!!!" The subject of his rant appeared moments later, a confused look on her face.  
  
"What happened?!"  
  
"You really need to work on your temper--not to mention your aim."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I hear sent Keitaro into orbit."  
  
"Yeah, so?" Motoko was annoyed that this was all he called her there for.  
  
Sean pointed to the bump on his head. "Guess where he landed."  
  
"It's not my fault he saw me in the hot spring."  
  
"Hey," Keitaro said in his own defense, "I thought you were out looking for Sean with the others."  
  
"And why weren't you with them?" Sean asked.  
  
"Naru doesn't want me anywhere near her."  
  
"Is that so?" Sean glared at Naru.  
  
"Yeah, so what?"  
  
Sean let out an angry sigh. "I am getting sick and tired of you two not getting along! I have had to clean up after you ever since the day you met!"  
  
"Sean, please--" Shinobu started.  
  
"Don't interrupt me." Shinobu backed off. "As I was saying, the two of you are going to get along, if even for a little while; and I know just the way to do it."  
  
"And what, pray tell, are you going to do?" Naru questioned.  
  
"Every day after lunch, you two will be spending at least an hour studying together. I will be in the same room to make sure that happens."  
  
"What?! You're forcing me to spend time with him?!"  
  
"That hurts," Keitaro said, downcast.  
  
"If you don't, I'll be forced to take more drastic measures, and neither one of us want that."  
  
"But I don't want to spend time with--"  
  
"And I don't really care! You will get along, and that's that!" The girls were shocked by his tone. He doesn't get mad very often, and for good reason. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be in my room." He stormed out of the room.  
  
"Um, where did that come from?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"It's been a while since he's had an outburst like that, but it's never been directed at us like that before." Kitsune said.  
  
"The nerve of that guy to talk to me like that!" Naru said. "I'm going to give him a piece of my mind!"  
  
"No," Everyone was shocked to see Shinobu grab Naru by the arm, stopping her. "I'll go talk to him."  
  
"Why you?"  
  
"He's not mad at me." Shinobu ran after Sean.  
  
"If anyone can calm Sean down, it's Shinobu," Motoko said.  
  
Kitsune noticed a depressed Keitaro and decided to try to cheer him up. She grabbed him by the arm. "Come with me."  
  
Keitaro was confused. "Where are you taking me?"  
  
Kitsune smiled. "You'll see." She dragged him out of the room with her.  
  
Naru was fuming. "That guy can be so aggravating sometimes!"  
  
"Which one?" Motoko said.  
  
---  
  
Shinobu timidly knocked on Sean's door.  
  
"Who is it?" Sean answered. His voice still sounded a bit irritated, but there was some improvement.  
  
"It's… Shinobu. May I come in?"  
  
"Sure." Shinobu opened the door to find Sean lying on his futon, listening to music. "Unwell" by Matchbox 20 was playing.  
  
"Are you alright?"  
  
"I'm not sure. Ranting like that always makes me feel guilty afterwards. I don't like to express myself like that, but sometimes I'm left with no other option."  
  
"Why did you say what you did just now?"  
  
"The stress must have finally gotten to me, what with Keitaro flying every which way, making holes in the walls and ceiling. That's why I left today; I just had to get away from all this. My time in the arcade seemed to help, but apparently not as much as I thought."  
  
Tears welled up in Shinobu's eyes. "Please don't leave like that again. I was getting worried about you."  
  
"I'm sorry. I should have known better than to leave unannounced."  
  
"Unwell" ended and was soon replaced by "Out of My Head" by Fastball.  
  
"Why did have to go out and find that girl? Don't you like us anymore?"  
  
"You know that's not true. To be honest, I never expected that to happen. I suppose I have you to thank for meeting Mutsumi."  
  
Shinobu's eyes grew wide in confusion. "What do you mean?"  
  
"If I hadn't been momentarily distracted by seeing you at that moment, I never would have bumped into her."  
  
"You knew I was there?!"  
  
"At that instant, yes I did, but not before. How long were you following me?"  
  
Shinobu blushed. "Since you left the arcade."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were there?"  
  
"I was told to stay out of sight. And contact the others if I found you."  
  
"Kitsune's idea?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"I might have known."  
  
"Um, will you and that girl be… well…" Shinobu couldn't find the right words.  
  
"Boyfriend and girlfriend?" Shinobu nodded weakly. "I can't say. Honestly, I'm not that familiar with this type of thing. I'm actually quite nervous as to what might happen; and not exactly in a good way."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"What will you do if it doesn't work out?"  
  
"I guess I'll just deal with it. I've thought about the prospect all too much over the years."  
  
"What, having a girlfriend?"  
  
"No, being rejected."  
  
Shinobu was surprised by that last comment. "Why would you be worried about being rejected?"  
  
"I'm not exactly the prettiest guy in the world."  
  
"Looks aren't everything."  
  
"I know that, but first impressions are. What would you think if you saw me for the first time?" Sean removed his sunglasses and looked Shinobu straight in the eye. The dark circles under his eyes hinted that he doesn't get enough sleep, and the look in his eyes resembled that of either a stoner or a drunk. None of the above was actually the case, but that's how he looked.  
  
Shinobu decided to be honest. "I'd think you looked like someone who's been out all night with Kitsune."  
  
"Exactly. Not a lot of women would want to be with a guy who looks like I do."  
  
"Why are you so negative?"  
  
"Well, I haven't had too much to be positive about in my life besides my academic skills."  
  
"Oh." Shinobu started to pity Sean for a moment. "He's had to deal with so many things in his life," she thought. "but finding someone that would care for him shouldn't be one of them." She started to feel guilty. He knew to some extent how she felt about him, but he didn't want to explore those avenues for fear of what the others might think. "I don't care about what would happen to us; I want to be with him."  
  
Sean was starting to get nervous about the break in the conversation. "I wonder what she's thinking about." He thought, observing her expression. "I think I should change the subject before things get too awkward for our own good." Sean glanced at the clock; it read 6:47. "Perfect."  
  
"Shinobu, do you want me to help you fix dinner tonight?" This quickly brought her out of her thoughts.  
  
"No, that's alright. You just get ready for… what was her name again?"  
  
"Mutsumi."  
  
"Mutsumi. You should get ready for her to arrive. I can handle dinner myself."  
  
"Alright, if that's what you want."  
  
Shinobu then left, closing the door behind her. As she walked down the hall, her mind kept racing. "That's not what I want. I want to be with him." Tears started to crawl down her cheeks. "No, I can't cry. I have to be happy that Sean found someone; even if it isn't me." She struggled to stop crying as she made her way to the kitchen.  
  
---  
  
"Kitsune, what are you doing?!!"  
  
"Don't you like it, Keitaro?"  
  
"Um, well--"  
  
"If not, then how about this?"  
  
"AH!"  
  
* * * End of Chapter X * * *  
  
It figures the story would turn in this direction during Valentines. I'll be the first to admit that this chapter probably wasn't the best one so far. Some awkward questions were left unanswered: How will the dinner go? How will Shinobu react during that time? What the heck were Kitsune and Keitaro doing?! (Shakes head) This one's going to get harder before it gets easier, but I'll try to do it well. Please give me honest responses. Thank you for reading and I'll see you again with chapter 11. 


	12. Ch11: Undying Adoration

Disclaimer: I own none of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
I don't really have anything to say right now, so let's just get started.  
  
* * * Chapter XI: Undying Adoration * * *  
  
Saturday, 7/20; 7:46 PM  
  
The girls and Keitaro gathered in the kitchen and the dining room to make final preparations for their guest. Sean entered in a blue button down shirt with a flame motif (also blue), long jeans and tennis shoes; that was about as formal as he would ever get without complaints. "Um, I want to say something before Mutsumi gets here."  
  
"And what might that be?" Naru was still a bit angry about what he said before.  
  
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry about how I acted before. I have been really stressed the last few days and I didn't mean to take it out on you. That's why I left this afternoon. I hope you can forgive me."  
  
"Does that mean I don't have to spend study time with Keitaro?" Naru said hopefully.  
  
"Don't push it." Sean started to go outside to wait for Mutsumi to arrive.  
  
Naru angrily crossed her arms. "It was worth a shot."  
  
Sean stopped when he reached the door. "Oh, and one more thing. Keitaro, Kitsune, I don't know exactly what you two were doing earlier, but please keep it down in the future, alright?" He left with a smile on his face. He knew that would make things a bit more lively in his absence.  
  
As he walked down the front steps, he started to wonder what might happen that night. His mind kept thinking of… certain things, but he knew it would probably never happen. When he got to the bottom, he found Mutsumi walking toward him. "Hi, Mutsumi. I see you found the place alright."  
  
She chuckled. "It's sort of hard to miss."  
  
"I guess so." He walked next to her up the stairs.  
  
"Why did you meet me way down here?" She asked.  
  
"I don't want you to bust your head open if you should pass out."  
  
"Ah. A precautionary measure."  
  
"Yup. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt or anything."  
  
"Thank you for your concern." She decided to ask something that was nagging at her mind since they met. "How did you come to live here, anyway?"  
  
"As hard as it is to believe, I applied for a job here."  
  
"You work here?" Mutsumi raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Okay, first, I want to say that I thought this place was just a hotel when I applied, and second, it's not as good as you might think. I've had my butt kicked more times than I can remember."  
  
"I would think so. You're probably sneaking peeks every now and then."  
  
"You'd think that wouldn't you? I actually go out of my way to protect their modesty."  
  
"Oh." She looked at Sean for a moment, a hint of confusion on her face. "Why are you still wearing sunglasses? It is pretty late, after all."  
  
Sean sighed. "I guess I'll level with you. I'm actually blind."  
  
Mutsumi's eyes grew wide. "You're blind?!"  
  
"I know it doesn't look that way, but I'll explain." Just then, PAVE appeared in front of them. "That is what I use to see."  
  
"Wow. So you can see both of us right now?"  
  
"Yeah. It's taken me a while to get used to the perspective. I'll explain how I got it later. Ah, we're here." Sean walked ahead of Mustumi and opened the door for her. "Ladies first."  
  
"Thank you." When they entered the dining room, they found Keitaro hogtied and gagged. Naru was standing over him.  
  
"I'm going to ask you again; what were you two doing?"  
  
"Mmph," was all Keitaro could say.  
  
"Is that what we're eating?" Mutsumi smiled as she saw the events unfold before her. "Looks a bit undercooked."  
  
Sean stifled a laugh. "No, that would be Keitaro. I guess what I said before I left had the desired effect."  
  
"What did you say?"  
  
"I… hinted about what he and one of the girls might have done about an hour ago."  
  
"What did they do?" Mustumi asked.  
  
"I'm not sure myself, but they were making quite a bit of racket doing it."  
  
Mutsumi giggled. "I see."  
  
Sean turned to the others, still unaware of his presence. "Alright, leave Keitaro alone. Our guest is here. Everyone, this is Mutsumi."  
  
"Hello." She said politely.  
  
Upon seeing Sean's date, Kitsune walked to them and looked her over a bit. When she finished, she nodded her approval and took her seat at the table.  
  
"I wonder what that was all about?" Sean thought. He shook his head and lead Mutsumi to her chair, pausing only to help untie Keitaro.  
  
"Thank you," said the newly freed man as he sat next to Sean.  
  
"No problem." Sean smiled at what he had done to him; torture wasn't one of his favorite pastimes, but sometimes he just couldn't resist.  
  
"You explained why you're here," Mutsumi said to Sean, "but why is he here?" She pointed to Keitaro.  
  
"He's my… assistant." She looked at him skeptically. "Alright, he's supposedly related to the one who owns this place. If that proves to be false, I'll leave his judgment and punishment to the girls." Naru smiled at the prospect of having free reign in Keitaro's fate. Keitaro on the other hand, became very nervous as to what she might do to him.  
  
Sean noticed his uneasiness. "If you were telling the truth about that, you won't have anything to worry about; at least nothing more to worry about."  
  
"You're right." Keitaro calmed down a bit, but still eyed Naru cautiously.  
  
"Anyway, why don't you tell us about yourself, Mutsumi?"  
  
As dinner went on, Mutsumi told an abridged version of her life story. As it turns out, she, like Naru, is trying to get into Tokyo U, but like Keitaro, she has failed a couple times before. This wasn't because she didn't know the answers, but her being anemic; she would pass out before she could finish the test. After she finished, she was introduced to the seven residents.  
  
After everyone finished eating, Shinobu started to gather the dishes. "Here, let me help you with that," Sean offered.  
  
"No, I can handle it." Shinobu said, her voice devoid of emotion.  
  
Sean became concerned. "Hmm, usually she would jump at the chance for me to help her. I wonder what's troubling her," he thought. "It's probably nothing too important if she doesn't want to tell me about it."  
  
As Shinobu started cleaning the dishes, she fought back tears. Her mind was like a broken record. "I must be happy for him. I must be happy for him. I must be--" Her thoughts were interrupted by Suu appearing next to her, drying the dishes she had washed. "You don't have to help me, Suu."  
  
Suu just smiled. "I want to."  
  
"…Thank you." She allowed this to keep her mind off Sean, at least for the moment.  
  
Meanwhile, the others reconvened in the living room, where they watched TV and chatted for a while. Shinobu and Suu joined them after they finished the dishes. Soon, it was after 10:00 and Mutsumi had to leave.  
  
"Here, I'll show you out," Sean said.  
  
"Why do you want to see me go?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"I want to make sure you get down the front steps without passing out and hurting yourself."  
  
Mutsumi nodded, accepting his reasoning. "Good idea." The two walked out toward the door together.  
  
"She's a nice one," Suu said.  
  
"Yes, I wish those two the best of times together." Motoko said.  
  
Shinobu could not stand it any longer. She had to get out before she blew her top. "Excuse me. I think I'll turn in."  
  
"Goodnight, Shinobu." Everyone said as she made her way up the stairs, but she didn't go to her room. Instead, she walked into Sean's room.  
  
"I have to know for sure." She said to herself as she found Sean's spell book and flipped through the pages; there were more spells there than the last time she saw it. She found what was looking for and examined the odd markings for a little while before she returned the binder to the bookshelf.  
  
"Time to put my abilities to the test," she said as she waved her arms around her in a precise pattern. When she finished, she looked into the mirror; she saw no reflection of herself. "One down, one to go." Once again, she started making hand gestures.  
  
---  
  
Sean and Mutsumi walked down the steps together. When they reached the bottom, they said their goodbyes.  
  
"Maybe we'll see each other again sometime," Sean said.  
  
"I think we will." Mutsumi said, smiling.  
  
"Does that mean that you and me…" Sean said hopefully.  
  
Mutsumi laid a hand on Sean's shoulder. "Sean, you're a nice guy, but I'm not sure if things would work out between us."  
  
Sean felt like he'd been hit by a ton of bricks, but he didn't show it. "May I ask why?"  
  
"It's just that you have so many responsibilities, I don't think you could fit in an outside relationship."  
  
"I see. But you will visit sometimes, won't you?"  
  
"Of course. I'll come by every once in a while to accompany Naru and Keitaro in their studies."  
  
"I guess we can still be friends, then."  
  
"Sure thing. See you later, Sean."  
  
"See ya." Sean watched Mutsumi leave until she was out of sight. He then walked slowly back up the steps, his head bowed. "I guess it wasn't meant to happen. Figures."  
  
Suddenly, his mind flinched. He looked around, but found nothing. "I could have sworn--" He started as he scratched his head. "Oh well." He continued solemnly back the dorm.  
  
Shinobu saw the entire scene unfold before her from a few feet away. She was relieved that Sean was still available, but she couldn't bear to see him as sad as he was. "I need to figure out a way to cheer him up after what just happened," she thought.  
  
When she saw Sean stop and look around, she started to panic. "Does he know I'm here?!" She then saw him shrug his shoulders and continue on his way. "Whew. That was close." Suddenly, an idea popped into her head; a smile appeared on her young face.  
  
"Yes, that should let me find out once and for all how he feels about me," she thought as she recast the teleportation spell.  
  
---  
  
Kitsune was the first to notice Sean return. "So, are you two a couple?"  
  
Sean smiled for a brief moment before the sad expression returned.  
  
"She dump you?" Naru asked.  
  
"We decided to be… just friends."  
  
"Ouch," Kitsune said; she sympathized with him. "The curse of 'just friends.'"  
  
"It's happened to you?"  
  
"Too often." Kitsune glanced at Naru for a moment. "Too often."  
  
"I see." Sean soon became aware of something a bit off in the scene before him. "Where's Shinobu?"  
  
"She said she was going to get some sleep." Keitaro said.  
  
"Oh." Sean left for the stairs.  
  
"Where are you going?" Motoko asked.  
  
"My room. I'll probably rest a bit and get some shuteye myself."  
  
"Alright, then. See you in the morning."  
  
Sean nodded and waved his hand as he left the room.  
  
"He must be pretty broken up about what happened." Naru said.  
  
"Yeah, so much for your wish, Motoko." Kitsune added.  
  
"Nobody's perfect." Motoko said in her own defense.  
  
"I'll go have a talk with him and see if there's anything we can do to help." Keitaro said, getting up.  
  
"Good idea," Motoko affirmed. "After what he's been through, he may not be up for another one-on-one talk with a girl tonight."  
  
"Right. Until tomorrow then… Naru." Keitaro said just before he was out of sight.  
  
"Oh shoot," Naru said, realizing what he meant. "I'm going to have to spend study time with that creep. I'll to have to get Sean back for that."  
  
"It can wait," Kitsune said. "In the meantime, who's up for some sake?"  
  
---  
  
As Sean entered his room, he noticed something was amiss as he sensed the residue of magical energy. "That's odd." He looked around but found he was alone; at least until Keitaro appeared behind him.  
  
"Hey, Sean." He saw a strange look on Sean's face. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"It feels like somebody was just casting spells in here."  
  
"Do you think it's your energy?"  
  
"No, I'd recognize it if it was. This is somebody else's, but I can't tell who's."  
  
"Should we be concerned about this?"  
  
"I don't think so. Whoever was here didn't take anything, so we should he alright."  
  
"Okay." Keitaro suddenly remembered why he came. "Do you want to talk about what happened?"  
  
"I suppose." The two men sat down on Sean's futon.  
  
"So, why did she dump you?"  
  
"The reason we decided to be friends," Sean reinforced, "was because she thought I had too many responsibilities here and a relationship might not work because of it."  
  
"Ah, I can see how that can pose a problem. Will we ever see her again?"  
  
"Oh sure. She'll come by from time to time to study with you and Naru."  
  
"About that. Naru's still against me and her spending any amount of quality time together."  
  
"She'll have to deal with it. You two don't exactly have to like one another; just be on less violent terms, which reminds me…" Sean grabbed Keitaro by the wrist and sent magical energy into him.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"I'm making it so that when you're sent into space again, you don't take part of the ceiling with you."  
  
"What?" Keitaro was confused by what he said.  
  
"You'll understand next time Naru hits you." Keitaro nodded. "I've also got a way for you to teleport yourself back in the works." Sean brain-flinched again. "What in the--?"  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"It may just be paranoia, but I have the distinct feeling I'm being watched. I felt the same way when I was walking back after Mutsumi left." He shook his head. "My mind must be playing tricks on me or something."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
"I guess I'll get some sleep. I have a lot to think about and I'll probably have a clearer mind to work with in the morning. I plan on having a talk with Shinobu then. I'm getting concerned about the way she's been acting today."  
  
"I'm sure she's fine."  
  
"You haven't known her as long as I have. I know when something's troubling her; I just don't know what yet."  
  
"I see. I guess I'll turn in, too. Good night, Sean."  
  
"You too." The two men changed into their sleepwear and went to bed.  
  
---  
  
Unbeknownst to him, Sean's paranoia was quite accurate, as Shinobu had been spying on them. She was still invisible, so she wasn't that worried about being found out. She had teleported from outside into her own room, changed into her night shirt and jetted back to Sean's room before he got there.  
  
"Alright, I'll have to act fast; he won't be asleep for too long," she thought as she ran the plan through her head one last time. After she was sure he was sound asleep, she made her way to Sean's futon, making sure to end the invisibility spell. "Let's see how he'll react to this."  
  
---  
  
Sunday, 7/21; 1:15 AM  
  
"What the hell?!!" Sean thought. He refused to believe what he was seeing when he woke up. "Is this a dream?!" He knew he was awake, but still--this seemed a bit too strange for comfort, for you see, Shinobu was lying next to him on his bed, sound asleep.  
  
"I have to get her back to her room before the others see us like this." Gently, he picked up the sleeping girl and slowly walked from his room to hers and set her onto her bed, pulling the covers over her body.  
  
"Why did she do this?" he couldn't help but wonder. "She must have deeper feeling for me than I thought." He decided to stay by her side until she awoke. "If she doesn't see me when she wakes up, she might be heartbroken."  
  
---  
  
6:52 AM  
  
Shinobu opened her eyes to find she was in her room. "How did--?!" She started to say until she saw Sean next to her, smiling. "Oh."  
  
"You know, you could have just told me how you felt."  
  
Crying, Shinobu hugged him as hard as she could. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Don't be. It took courage to pull a stunt like that."  
  
"I just wanted to know for sure… your feelings toward me."  
  
"Is that what this is all about?"  
  
"Yes. Seeing you with Mutsumi just did something to me. I had to know if you and her were--"  
  
"Wait, was that you out there?!" She nodded. "But how come I didn't see you there?"  
  
Shinobu released her embrace; her tears had stopped. "I made myself invisible."  
  
"So that was your energy I felt back in my room."  
  
"Yes. I found your spell binder, made myself vanish and teleported out to where you were. I heard the whole thing between you and Mutsumi."  
  
"I see. Then you know the situation I'm in right now, but why did you go to all this trouble to find out my feelings towards you?"  
  
"I needed an honest answer."  
  
"Does this mean you want the two of us to be--"  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
"Why didn't you just say so?"  
  
"I didn't want to interfere in your personal life. I was trying to be happy for you that you found someone."  
  
"You care for me that much that you'd put yourself through so much anguish for my sake?"  
  
"I'd do anything for you, Sean."  
  
"But are you sure you want to be with me this badly? I mean, if the others--"  
  
"I don't care what the others would think. I can't stand not to be around you any longer."  
  
Sean thought it over for a minute while Shinobu waited eagerly. He smiled and wrapped his arms around her.  
  
"Does this mean that--?"  
  
"Yes, it does."  
  
She was speechless for a moment, tears beginning anew. "I love you so much, Sean," She said softly.  
  
"I love you too, Shinobu." They remained there silently for a few moments before Sean broke down himself. "I'm so sorry."  
  
Shinobu backed off a bit, surprised. Sean's eyes were shut tight, but tears still escaped. "What?"  
  
"I could've… should've told you that sooner."  
  
"That you loved me?" Sean nodded. "Why didn't you?"  
  
"I was afraid. I've never felt like this before. Besides, there was too much uncertainty. How would you have responded? How would the others have reacted if they found out? I was scared to find out."  
  
"I was scared at first, too." Shinobu wiped the tears from Sean's cheeks. "But I knew in my heart that it was right, and I think you feel the same way."  
  
"Yes." He resumed the embrace they shared moments before. "Thank you."  
  
"You're welcome." A thought occurred to her. "When should we tell them about us?"  
  
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. For now, let's just enjoy each other's company."  
  
"Alright." Shinobu smiled and blushed slightly as she held Sean in her arms.  
  
Just then, a knock was heard at the door. "What's going on in there?" Motoko's voice was heard from the other side of the door.  
  
Shinobu started to panic. "What should we do?"  
  
"I'll teleport back to my room. I don't think they're ready to find out about us yet."  
  
"Okay," Shinobu said, a small smile still on her face. "See you in a little bit."  
  
Sean nodded, then vanished just when Motoko opened the door.  
  
"What's going on? I was hearing voices in here."  
  
Shinobu turned on her innocent look. "Nothing's wrong. I was just dreaming, that's all. Don't scare me like that."  
  
Motoko felt a bit guilty about barging in like she did. "I apologize. See you at breakfast." She left, closing the door behind her.  
  
Shinobu allowed herself a wide smile. This was the happiest she has ever been. "I hope we don't have to hide our love for too long." She then got dressed and left for the kitchen to make breakfast.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XI * * *  
  
Well, that's that. I lose Mutsumi and pick up Shinobu. I'm going to tell you right now: don't hesitate to be brutally honest with your responses. See you next time around. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I have no idea as to how long this story will last. 


	13. Ch12: Exposed

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
I can read your mind. You're thinking, "How could you write such a thing? Honestly, you and Shinobu together--" You get the picture. I just want to warn those of you thinking that way (you know who you are) that if you didn't like the last chapter, you'll downright hate this one. Besides, this isn't by any means the worst thing on the net right now, nor will it ever be if I can help it. And now, for you're viewing *ahem* pleasure:  
  
* * * Chapter XII: Exposed * * *  
  
Breakfast was a bit different that day. The girls and Keitaro couldn't help but notice that Shinobu had regained her former cheerfulness and then some. She seemed almost euphoric as she served another of her delicious meals.  
  
"What's the deal?" Kitsune whispered to Naru. "Yesterday, she was about as depressed as I've ever seen her, and today…"  
  
"I know. It's like she's a completely different person."  
  
The meal went by in relative silence. The only strange thing that occurred, other than Shinobu's return to happiness, was a paper airplane arriving seemingly out of nowhere. It caught everyone's attention as it glided gently onto Shinobu's lap. She unfolded it and looked it over for a moment.  
  
"What is it?" Suu asked.  
  
Shinobu blushed a bit. "Um, just a secret admirer."  
  
"Really?" Kitsune became fascinated that someone was interest in the young cook. "Who is it?"  
  
"I don't know. It's a secret."  
  
"Let me see that." Kitsune reached over to take the paper.  
  
"No!" Shinobu pressed it tightly against her chest.  
  
Everyone was shocked by the sudden outburst. "Why not?"  
  
"I just want to find out who this is on my own." She tucked the former flyer into her pocket and started to gather the dishes and take them into the kitchen.  
  
"You can be so careless sometimes, Kitsune," Motoko said, shaking her head. "This is probably the first time she's experiencing something like this and she wants to sort out her feelings on her own."  
  
"You're no fun," Kitsune pouted.  
  
---  
  
After Shinobu finished cleaning the dishes, she took out the paper she received during breakfast, taking care to watch out for anyone coming. She sighed happily as she reread the message written there:  
  
"Meet me in the hot spring after breakfast. XXOO You Know Who"  
  
She sighed again. She knew right away who it was, and was eager to comply. She quickly made her way to the changing room and walked out to the hot springs, a towel wrapped around her.  
  
Much to her surprise, she found herself alone. "H-Hello?" She said nervously. "Are you out heEEE!?" Her wondering was cut off when she was lifted a few feet into the air, reclining backwards. "What's going on?!" She started to panic before something started to appear around her. She was shocked to see Sean carrying her in his arms. "Sean?! How did you do that?!"  
  
Sean simply smiled. "You're not the only who can be sneaky." He noticed her clutching her chest. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah," she said, catching her breath. "You just scared me, that's all."  
  
Sean still smiled as he set Shinobu on her feet. "Sorry, I couldn't resist. After all, when I found you in my bed last night, my reaction was pretty similar."  
  
"Oh." Shinobu blushed when she realized Sean was wearing a towel himself.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Shinobu's face grew brighter. "Um, what you're wearing--"  
  
"Oh, yeah. I guess I hadn't counted on both of us wearing the same outfit." They shared a chuckle. "Well, are we going in the water or are we just going to stand here all day?" Sean stepped into the water, Shinobu right behind him.  
  
"Um, why did you ask me to come out here?"  
  
"Well, I knew you would be coming here eventually, but I had to be sure you didn't bring the others with you. I just needed to talk about us for a bit."  
  
Shinobu looked at Sean lovingly; her face still had a visible shade of pink. "Okay."  
  
--- (Meanwhile)  
  
"We have to figure out who this 'secret admirer' is," Kitsune said.  
  
"No, we don't." Motoko was adamant against invading Shinobu's privacy.  
  
"Hmm, maybe we should ask Sean if he knows something," Keitaro suggested.  
  
"Why would he know anything about this?" Naru asked.  
  
"Last night he said was going to talk to her today about what was bothering her."  
  
"Did he know what was troubling her?" Motoko asked.  
  
"No, he didn't, but he knew it was something."  
  
"Let's find him and ask him," Kitsune said, heading off to his room.  
  
"Hey, wait--" Naru started, but Kitsune was already out of sight.  
  
Kitsune quickly reached Sean's door and knocked. "Sean, are you in there?" After a few seconds without a reply, she opened the door to find it vacant. "Hmm, maybe he's in Shinobu's room, talking to her; or at least I hope their just talking." She made her way to Shinobu's room, meeting the others on the way.  
  
"Sean not in his room?" Suu asked.  
  
"Nope. I'm going to check Shinobu's room next." She rushed to her destination, the others following close behind her. When they reached Shinobu's room, they found that neither Sean nor Shinobu were there.  
  
"That's odd. If they're not in either of their rooms, where could they be?" Kitsune said, scratching her head.  
  
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Naru. "No, he wouldn't, would he?"  
  
"He wouldn't what?" Motoko asked. Upon seeing Naru's worried expression, she understood. "Oh."  
  
"If my hunch is right--and I seriously hope it isn't--" Naru said, "I can only think of one place they would be."  
  
---  
  
Sean and Shinobu were in the middle of a heart to heart talk in the hot spring, contemplating their future together. After all, they had just become a couple earlier that morning and they had a lot to talk about, not the least of which being how to break the news to the others.  
  
Suddenly, Sean heard something coming down the hall towards them. "Uh oh. I was afraid of this."  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's the others; they're coming."  
  
"What?! But we're not ready to tell them yet!"  
  
"I know, I know. Let me just think of something…" The sounds of approaching footsteps were soon accompanied by voices.  
  
"If he's doing what I think he's doing, show him no mercy!" Naru said.  
  
"C'mon Sean, think!" he thought. Seconds before the others arrived, he did the only thing he could think of. "Take a deep breath," he said as a grabbed Shinobu by the arm and dived into the water, making their way to the other end of the bath.  
  
Naru was the first to reach the hot spring, shaking her fist. "Sean, are you out here?!" She noticed the area was empty. "Hmm, I guess I was wrong--" At least she that's what she thought until she found something floating on top of the water. Upon closer inspection, she saw what the objects were.  
  
"It's worse than I thought," she said as she lifted two towels out of the water. "Apparently he heard us coming. He's got to be around here somewhere. Spread out and search the entire hot spring! We'll find him."  
  
Sean and Shinobu huddled together underwater, hoping not to be found out.  
  
"Oh, man," Sean thought. "Why do these things keep happening to me?" He started to notice air bubbles coming from Shinobu's nose. "She won't last too much longer. I have to do something--" Almost instinctively, he pressed his lips against hers, breathing air into her lungs.  
  
When this happened, Shinobu's face grew a bright shade of red. "He's kissing me," she thought. "He's actually kissing me." She soon realized the reason behind it, but the feelings were still there.  
  
Motoko was the first one to find the two hiding in the far corner of the hot spring. Immediately, she grabbed Sean by the neck and pulled his head out of the water, bringing Shinobu's with it.  
  
"What are you doing to her, you pervert?!" Motoko said as she saw them still in their lip lock. Neither of them seemed to hear her; it was like they were in their own little world.  
  
Naru noticed Motoko pull them out of the water. To say she was raging would have been a grave understatement. "SEAN, YOU BASTARD!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO SHINOBU??!!"  
  
This "little" outburst brought the couple back to reality. They separated their faces with a jolt and looked at Naru in shock. They probably should have been thankful Naru could only see their faces, for during her CPR, Shinobu had wrapped her legs around Sean's waist, and that would not have helped matters, to say the least.  
  
Sean was the first to be able to speak. "If you wanted to use the hot springs, you could have just asked." He instantly regretted saying that.  
  
Steam started to pour from Naru's ears. "Why are you out here naked?!"  
  
Sean looked confused. "What are you talking about? We're not--" He then noticed a couple of towels in Naru's clenched fist. He looked down for a moment, blushing. "I guess we are."  
  
Shinobu suddenly noticed that very same thing, not to mention the position she was in. She blushed uncontrollably.  
  
"You know what," Sean said, "we wouldn't even be naked right now if you hadn't formed this angry mob, from which we had to hurry to hide from. Apparently, those towels weren't on as tightly as I thought."  
  
"You still haven't told us what's going on," Motoko said, still holding Sean's neck.  
  
Sean looked at Shinobu for a bit and sighed. "All will be explained, but only on one of two conditions."  
  
"And what are they?" Kitsune wondered.  
  
"You can either let Shinobu and myself get dressed, or you all can strip naked yourselves and join us in the water."  
  
"What?!" Naru said. "I don't want an explanation! I want your head!!" She ran over to beat Sean to a bloody pulp.  
  
Sean calmly raised a finger and Naru froze mid-stride. "Calm yourself, Naru. I think you should reconsider your actions. Ten seconds after I finish this statement, you will be able to move again. If you still wish to beat my face in, I will consider it your acceptance of the second option I gave you, and it will apply to everyone present. Think it over carefully. Also, Motoko, I would greatly appreciate it if you would let go of my neck."  
  
Motoko quickly let go of Sean. She did not wish to become the target of Sean's aggression.  
  
"Sean, what are you doing?" Shinobu asked timidly.  
  
"I believe we have no other alternative; we may have to tell them."  
  
"Tell us what?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Whether we actually tell you anything or not is up to Naru."  
  
Naru suddenly jarred back to life, skidding a few feet forward before she was able to stop.  
  
"Well, what is your decision?" Sean asked.  
  
Naru growled a bit before responding with words. "Get dressed; I expect an answer when you do." She tossed the towels at the couple and stormed back inside. The others soon followed suit, leaving Sean and Shinobu alone.  
  
"I was hoping it wouldn't have come to this, but I guess it was inevitable."  
  
"What's going to happen to us?" Shinobu looked worried.  
  
"I don't know, Shinobu." Sean was downright frightened. "I don't know."  
  
--- (Ten minutes later / Living Room)  
  
"You WHAT?!!" Naru screamed when she, along with everyone else, heard the unexpected news.  
  
"How long has this been going on?" Kitsune asked.  
  
Sean looked at his watch. "About three and a half hours now."  
  
"That's it?"  
  
"Well, it's been leading up to this for a while."  
  
"Have you known about this, Shinobu?" Motoko asked.  
  
Shinobu blushed deeply. "Actually, it was my idea."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
Shinobu nodded. "I've felt this way ever since Sean went blind. The thought that he might never see me again just did something to me. It made me… want him."  
  
Sean stared at her. "I suppose I'm guilty of the same thing. How you showed concern for me while my world was in darkness had a similar effect on me."  
  
"If you've felt this way for so long, why didn't you say anything?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"And who would we tell? You?" Sean asked rhetorically.  
  
"We were afraid to say anything," Shinobu answered. "We didn't know how the other would react."  
  
"Besides, I was worried that if you would catch wind of this, I would get hunted down like some animal. Apparently, those fears were not unwarranted." Sean glared at Naru.  
  
"Well, something like this just shouldn't happen between you two; it isn't right."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"Well, the age difference alone--"  
  
"Screw the age difference! As long as we don't so just that, I don't see the problem--unless you're being jealous."  
  
Naru snorted. "Why would I be jealous?"  
  
"Because we once had feelings for each other and you let me slip through your fingers, that's why. We've grown apart and moved on, Naru."  
  
"If we've grown apart, then why do you insist on meddling in my affairs, most notably, forcing me to spend time with Keitaro?"  
  
"Because he'll need all the help he can get to pass the Tokyo U entrance exam--no offense."  
  
"None taken," Keitaro said.  
  
"But he's so stupid--"  
  
"And you're saying I'm not?"  
  
"Um, well…"  
  
"Exactly. I admit that I've done some things that someone would call 'stupid.' All of us have at one time or another."  
  
"That's not what I was thinking. It's just that he's not as smart as you."  
  
"How can you know for sure? For all we know, he could be smarter than everyone here, including myself! Maybe the problem is that he hasn't had anyone like you in his life to help him, ever think of that?"  
  
Naru looked a bit ashamed. "No."  
  
"I didn't think so. Give him a chance. I'm sure he will grow on you like I have. Sure, the punches may not end, but they haven't exactly stopped for me either, if you recall, but you may come to like him as you did me. Now, where was I before I got sidetracked?"  
  
"You and Shinobu," Kitsune answered.  
  
"Thank you. Does anybody else have any objections to the two of us being together?"  
  
"Um, if the two of you are going to be together," Kitsune said, "will that mean that you and I wouldn't be able to--"  
  
"I've been here for just over a month and you decide to bring that up now?"  
  
"Well, you were always busy, so I--"  
  
"Sounds like Mutsumi all over again."  
  
"What?"  
  
"That was the reason why she dumped him--er, decided to stay friends last night." Keitaro said.  
  
"I see," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, I don't know what to say about that. Shinobu, what do you think?"  
  
Shinobu gave the matter a bit of thought. "I… suppose there's no point to keeping him to myself if we can't do a lot of those things couples do."  
  
"Are you sure about what you're saying?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Does that mean I can have him if I want to?" Kitsune asked, stars starting to appear in her eyes.  
  
"Yes, and not just you. All of you could, but on one condition."  
  
"And what's that?" Sean asked, curious about what else she might have in mind.  
  
"I'll only allow it if I can watch."  
  
"WHAT?!" Sean was dumbstruck. "What are you saying?!"  
  
Shinobu eyed Sean lovingly. "Well, at my age, I won't be able to do those sort of things myself, but if I watch others, I'll have a good idea how when the time comes. Besides, I wouldn't want you to wait on me for your first time--um, would it be your first time?"  
  
Sean blushed, then nodded.  
  
Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "Huh."  
  
"So do you think it's a good idea?" Shinobu asked.  
  
Sean's mind was racing. "Uh, I'll to think this through for a while. Excuse me." Sean walked off towards his room.  
  
"Hey wait for me!" Shinobu said quickly following him.  
  
The others stared wide-eyed at where the new couple left. "Wow," Naru said. "I never saw that coming."  
  
"From his reaction, I don't think he did either," Motoko added.  
  
"Should I feel guilty right now?" Kitsune asked, smiling. "I mean, I was the one that asked about, well you know."  
  
"Well, you did make him very uncomfortable and he probably revealed more than he would have wanted," Motoko said.  
  
"More than in the hot springs a little while ago?"  
  
"Yes. There are some things we all have that we don't want others to know about."  
  
"I guess you're right. Maybe I should go apologize for bringing it up."  
  
"That would probably be the best course of action."  
  
Kitsune started to leave, but stopped and turned back to the others, a smile on her face. "But if what I said can't be taken back, you should thank me for opening the door for you." She then left for the stairs, leaving the others, their faces in various shades of red. They seemed unaware of Keitaro quickly reaching for a tissue to stop the trail of blood coming from his nose.  
  
--- (Sean/Keitaro's room)  
  
"Sean, what's wrong?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"It's just that it was so sudden, that's all," Sean replied. "I never knew you to ever think of things like that."  
  
"Well, I haven't had a reason to until now." Sean just nodded, starting to blush. "Have you ever thought about stuff like that?"  
  
"Shinobu, I'm a twenty-two year old man," He said, point-blank. "I sometimes have to struggle to keep those thoughts out of my head, and being around you girls all the time haven't helped."  
  
"I'm sorry."  
  
"It's not your fault. You can't help it if all of you induce fantasies in every man that sees you."  
  
Shinobu blushed at the compliment. "Have you had fantasies about me?"  
  
"Because of the whole age thing, I usually try to limit those to Naru, Kitsune and sometimes Motoko, but every once in a while…" Sean's voice trailed off.  
  
"I see." Kitsune appeared at the door, a small grin on her face.  
  
"How long were you there?" Sean asked, slightly annoyed.  
  
"Long enough." Kitsune walked in and sat next to Sean on his futon. "I just wanted to apologize for what I said earlier. It was completely inappropriate and I hope you can forgive me."  
  
"Don't worry about it. Something like that this was bound to come up sooner or later. I'm glad I'm dealing with this now and getting it over with."  
  
"Well, what's your decision?" Kitsune asked. "Will you accept Shinobu's idea?" Both Shinobu and Kitsune were eager to hear his answer.  
  
Sean sighed a bit. "Since Shinobu's so into it, I suppose I could go along for the ride, but let me tell you something right now: I don't want these little encounters to be an everyday occurrence. I wouldn't want to be too… experienced when it's Shinobu's turn."  
  
"Agreed. I'll tell the others to keep it to a minimum." Kitsune rushed out to relay the information.  
  
Shinobu hugged Sean. "I'm glad you're agreeing to this."  
  
"I suppose those are the kind of compromises I'd have to make in a relationship." Sean returned the embrace.  
  
"Um, do you think that you could…" Shinobu blushed at what she was about to ask. "kiss me again?"  
  
"If that's what you want…" He released his embrace and gently laid her flat on the bed.  
  
"Yes," Shinobu whispered as their lips met. Time seemed to stand still at that precise moment.  
  
They were so engrossed in what they were doing, they were unaware of a sigh coming from the doorway, where Kitsune's head poked out. Jealousy was apparent on her face. "I wish I was in her place right now," She thought. "Though I guess I can wait a little longer."  
  
* * * End of Chapter XII * * *  
  
Well, there you have it. Another chapter come and gone. Don't ask me why I thought of what I did in this chapter; I don't really know myself. Nevertheless, things might get a bit... interesting in the future. Sometimes I wonder what goes through this mind I have, not to mention why.  
  
I would actually like to meet Shinobu from the original story. From the dates I found, I would only be 10 months older than her, so it could have actually worked out. (That actually gives me an idea for another fic. Maybe I'll persue that idea later on.) Oh well. A guy can dream. Don't be surprised if the next chapter (yes, I plan on doing another one) takes a while to do. I'm not sure as to what it will be right now. Perhaps Kitsune... I don't know.   
  
Please respond! I'll take any feedback I can get! Hell, start the flamethrowers if you want to; I can take it! 


	14. Ch13: The Heat is On

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Alright class, for those of you who weren't paying attention last chapter, Shinobu and "I" don't plan on fornicating any time soon, mostly due to the fact that SHINOBU'S A MINOR!!  
  
Nevertheless...  
  
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN RATED FF(FanFic)-MA LS / PARENTAL DISCRETION WILL BE STRICTLY ENFORCED.  
  
I'm not used to writing about this sort of thing, so I don't know how it will turn out. Actually, before this, I wasn't used to writing about any sort of thing, so it might be better than I think.  
  
* * * Chapter XIII: The Heat is On * * *  
  
Sunday, 8/5 12:45 PM  
  
Kitsune sat in a corner of her room, her knees pressed against her chest. Her mind was going a mile a minute. It looked as though there was something in her mind driving her nuts.  
  
The past couple weeks have been some of the hardest of her life. She had tried to pick up Sean quite a few times since the opportunity had become available, but he had always been busy, either with his cleaning and maintenance schedule, watching over Naru and Keitaro's study sessions, or out with Shinobu doing who-knows-what.  
  
In the past, she had been reluctant to come on to Sean, mostly due to his busy schedule, but being shot down because of it only made things worse. She also knew that asking Keitaro was out of the question; he and Naru had begun to develop feelings for each other and she didn't want to interfere. By sheer strength of will, aided somewhat by her sake, was she able to keep her building emotions in check, but eventually, even the alcohol was unable to suppress her raging libido. She has become not much more than a tattered shell of her former self, but she managed to hide her torment well, keeping the others unaware of her plight.  
  
On this day however, she could stand it no longer. She needed someone. No, it was more than that; she needed a man. She needed Sean, and she knew where to find him. She got up and half-drunkenly sought to find the only thing that could help her now.  
  
---  
  
Sean was impressed with the progress Naru and Keitaro had made during their mandatory study periods. Granted, Naru would still strike him at other times of the day, but Sean knew all too well that they might never end. The only things he could do about them were to soften the blow and get Keitaro to vent every once in a while, so he wouldn't end up like Sean did after only two weeks of abuse.  
  
He leaned on the wall next to the door, half-listening to the two studying, half-reading a book of his own. Suddenly, a knock sounded on the door. Not wanting the visitor to disturb the studiers further, he teleported to the other side of the wall and see who it was. He was surprised to find Kitsune standing there. She looked at him, a strange look on her face.  
  
"Is there something wrong, Kitsune?" He asked.  
  
She was silent for a while, which only made Sean more concerned.  
  
"Kitsune?" He laid a hand on her shoulder.  
  
"I need to talk to you." She finally said.  
  
"Can it wait for a bit? The study session is just--"  
  
"No," Kitsune said. "It can't wait."  
  
"Alright. Just let me tell Naru and Keitaro." Sean opened the door a crack. "Just so you know, I may not be back for a while."  
  
"Okay," Naru said. Sean closed the door.  
  
"So, what did you want to talk about?"  
  
"Not here." Kitsune grabbed Sean by the wrist and led him back to her room.  
  
"I need your help." Kitsune said as soon as they entered her room. It looked as though a tornado had hit it; empty sake bottles were everywhere.  
  
"What's wrong?" Sean asked. Only silence responded. "I can't help you if you don't tell me."  
  
Suddenly, Kitsune grabbed Sean by the shirt and dragged him to the ground. She took a seat on top of him, who stared in bewilderment. After a few uncomfortable seconds, she bent down and kissed Sean passionately, much to his surprise. She released the lip lock after a bit and whispered something in Sean's ears. "Fuck me, Sean."  
  
"What?!" He was completely caught off guard by the request.  
  
"I said, fuck me."  
  
Sean tried to keep Kitsune's feelings top priority. "I couldn't do that to you in your condition; in this frame of mind."  
  
Kitsune backed off a bit, still sitting on his stomach. "It's your fault I'm like this. All you've ever done is push aside my advances. I've had to keep my emotions contained for the longest time. I can no longer handle the pressure my body's putting on me. I need your body, and I need it now."  
  
"Holy shit," Sean thought. "She so horny she can't think straight."  
  
"I'm not sure if--" Sean started out loud.  
  
"I cannot take 'no' for an answer any longer." She had a look of pure desperation in her eyes. "If you don't fuck me soon, I don't know what I'll do. Please, I'm begging you!"  
  
Sean only thought it over for a minute. "Kitsune is one that cannot be reasoned with right now, so I guess I have no choice," he thought.  
  
"Alright, I'll fuck you, if that's what you want."  
  
"Thank you." Kitsune quickly started to take off her shirt.  
  
"Hold on," Sean knew he had to take control of the situation before things got too out of hand. "Not here."  
  
"Where, then?" She said, anxious to get started.  
  
Sean sat up a bit and stroked Kitsune's cheek, provoking a shudder and a high pitched sigh. "Go to the changing room. I'll meet you there."  
  
Kitsune got up and shot out of the room so fast, Sean almost thought she had teleported like he has in the past.  
  
"Wow. I never knew she was under so much stress." Sean said as he stood up, brushing himself off. "I should have made time for her earlier, then it might not have come to this." He didn't want to know how long she would last without him, so he rushed out to do what he needed to before he would meet her again.  
  
He didn't have to look for long, for near the stairs, he found Shinobu. It looked like she had taken quite a spill. "What happened?" He asked, helping her to her feet.  
  
"Kitsune ran into me. She went off without even apologizing."  
  
"She's in a bad way right now. Come with me."  
  
"Where are we going?"  
  
"You said you wanted to watch, right?"  
  
Shinobu realized what was going on. "Oh. Yeah, I did."  
  
Sean rushed down the stairs and got to the changing room in no time, carrying Shinobu in his arms all the way. When he got to the door, he set his girlfriend onto her feet. "This might be a bit intense. Her desires have almost taken complete control of her body and mind. Are you completely sure you want to see this?" Shinobu nodded. "Alright, but you should probably turn invisible before we go in. She may not want an apparent audience."  
  
"Okay," Shinobu said before vanishing without a trace.  
  
"Her skills have really come along lately," Sean thought before opening the door. He was totally unprepared for what was about to see.  
  
Kitsune stood in the middle of the room, completely naked. As soon as she saw Sean enter, she ran over and held him in her arms. "TAKE ME NOW!!!" She screamed. It looked like she was about to explode.  
  
"No," Sean said calmly.  
  
"No?!" Kitsune whined. "Why?!?"  
  
Sean pointed to the showers. "Go in there and keep your back turned."  
  
"But, Sean--"  
  
"Now." Sean decided to remain firm, in more ways than one for a change.  
  
Reluctantly, Kitsune walked into the shower area. "Why is he doing this to me?!" She thought. "I ask him to help and all he does is torment me! I can't stand it much longer!" Her thoughts were interrupted by hands touching her waist. She looked back to find Sean, also nude, standing there. "Please, do me before--"  
  
"Shh." Sean pressed a finger to her lips for a moment. She nodded. Her body was visibly shaking in anticipation.  
  
"It won't take much to make her reach her peak at this point," he thought. He slowly moved his hands toward Kitsune's breasts. When he reached them, he caressed them gently, teasing the nipples a bit. The moans that followed signified that Kitsune was enjoying herself very much, to say the least.  
  
"Oh my god," Kitsune thought. "I can't believe he's finally doing this." Her breaths started to become heavy and her heart was pounding harder and harder in her chest.  
  
Sean started to raise the stakes a bit as he began kissing his subject lightly on the back of the neck. "How are you liking this so far?" he whispered into her ear. His response came in the form of gasps, sighs and moans, all of which were increasing in volume and pitch.  
  
Kitsune was in ecstasy at this point. She had never felt like this before, and she loved the experience. She felt like she was going to blow at any moment.  
  
Sean figured this as well. "Time for the kill," he thought. His hands continued with more force to their motions, eliciting a bigger reaction from Kitsune.  
  
Finally, she said something that was intelligible. "OH, SEAN!!!" She screamed as she reached the height of passion. She felt like every nerve in her body was on overdrive, and she loved every moment of it. As quickly as the orgasm arrived, it subsided, taking a good part of her energy with it. Her knees gave out from under her.  
  
Sean carefully laid Kitsune on her back to let her regain her strength. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Oh my god," she said between breaths. "That was wonderful. You have no idea how long I've wanted you do to that. Thank you."  
  
"No problem, Kitsune," Sean said. "I only wish I could have done it sooner and not put you through such an ordeal."  
  
"No, it's my fault. I should have told you about it before I became a wreck."  
  
Sean silently kneeled over Kitsune, admiring her beauty.  
  
"What are you doing?" Kitsune eventually asked, grinning.  
  
Sean suddenly noticed what he had been doing. He quickly turned away, his face a bright shade of red.  
  
Kitsune giggled a bit. "Don't be ashamed. It's not the first time I've been ogled, and it won't be the last."  
  
"It's just that I--" Sean was cut off by Kitsune's arms wrapping around him.  
  
"Don't bother; I understand. You try so hard to respect our modesty, but you need to just let go every once in a while," She said as she embraced Sean from behind.  
  
"Um, I…" The words got caught in his throat. The feeling of Kitsune's body pressed against his own started to excite him.  
  
"What?"  
  
Sean cleared his throat. "I just don't want to be the pervert I'm sometimes accused of being."  
  
Kitsune noticed nervousness in his voice. "What's the matter?"  
  
"I'm just not used to… this." Sean pointed out the way she was holding him.  
  
Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "Huh. Well, maybe you should get used to it. Here, I'll help you."  
  
"What?" Sean was confused by what Kitsune said until he felt her rubbing herself against him. Suddenly, his mind was going at light speed. Conflicting emotions were waging war to determine what he would do next. It took all of his concentration to keep from fondling himself.  
  
Kitsune heard Sean whimper like a puppy. "Is something wrong, Sean?"  
  
"I'm sorry about what I did to you, so please stop doing it to me."  
  
Kitsune was a bit puzzled. "What, the pleasure?"  
  
"No, the torture. Please stop."  
  
Kitsune looked around to the front of Sean to find him digging his fingernails into his legs, apparently in an effort to keep his thoughts away from his erection.  
  
"Focus on the pain," Sean thought. "I do not want this." "Yes, you do." "No, I don't." "Yes, you want to fuck her brains out." "No, I don't!" "Oh, c'mon, when are you going to get another chance like this? I mean, think about what she's doing right now for heaven's sake!" "I don't know and I don't care." "Jeez, what are you, a man or a mouse?" "Got any cheese?" "Oh for the love of… Just fuck her!" "No!" "Do it!" "NO!!" Sean's body was shaking as the pitched battle in his head started to take its toll.  
  
Kitsune was surprised by Sean's reaction to her attempt at seducing him. "Damn," she thought. "The guy's aroused, I can see that, but he'd rather go through physical and mental anguish than act on it. Maybe I should finish this myself." She started to move her hands slowly down his waist.  
  
This did not go unnoticed. "You see?" the voice in Sean's mind said. "She wants you. Go ahead and fuck her, already. You know you want to." "No, I can't let this go any farther!" "Like hell you won't!" "You're not the boss of me!" "I could change that, you know." "No, I will not let you control me!" "I'd like to see you try!"  
  
About when Kitsune's hands were about to reach their destination, Sean removed his hands from his legs, leaving red, nearly bleeding imprints, and grabbed her wrists, stopping them with only about an inch to spare.  
  
"I can't let this continue," Sean said, but the words seemed a bit forced. He tore himself from Kitsune's grasp and rushed to the other end of the room. He sat with his back against the wall.  
  
Kitsune saw tears form in Sean's eyes. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I'm sorry. My mind is trying to get me to do something."  
  
"What does it want you to do?"  
  
"You," Sean told her point-blank.  
  
"And you don't?" Kitsune asked. "By looking at you, it looks like you can't wait to jump me."  
  
"Looks can be deceiving. This whole thing was supposed to be for you, not me. I don't want to be selfish or anything."  
  
"Selfish?! What's so selfish about wanting to fuck me?!"  
  
"Think about what you just said."  
  
Kitsune walked over to Sean and stood over him. A nervous look appeared on his face. "If anybody should be accused of being selfish, it should be me. I've wanted you for almost as long as I've known you."  
  
Sean was speechless. Not just because of what she said, but just the sight of her like that took his breath away.  
  
Kitsune giggled a bit. "You just can't stand not to look at me, can you?" Sean gave no response. "Hello?" Still nothing.  
  
"Hmm," she thought. "If he won't react to words, let's see if he'll react to actions." Kitsune stepped back and started sporting seductive poses that could make any other man pass out from blood loss, but Sean didn't so much as flinch; he just followed her movements with his eyes. "Damn, he has a stronger will than any man I've ever known. What do I have to do to get him to crack?"  
  
"Why aren't you doing anything?! Like I told you before, fuck her while you still have the chance!" "Shut up! That is, unless, you want me to kick your ass again." "No, that's alright, but still, why don't you do something?" "Oh, I will. I'm just waiting for her to break down a bit first." "Oh, I get it. Make her come to you." "Bingo." "What exactly are you going to do?" "You'll find out soon enough." "Oh come on, tell me."A few minutes went by and Kitsune was beginning to get fed up with Sean's poker face. "Damn it, I'm running out of ideas," she thought. "I guess I have to use the last resort." She walked closer to Sean, and started to caress herself right in his face. A small smile appeared on his face. "Well, it's something, but still, he should be begging me toOOH!" She was shocked to find Sean's foot stroking her crotch. Wonderful sensations shot up her spine. She started to get that feeling again; the feeling of want, of need, the need for Sean's touch. She quickly realized why Sean was grinning the way he was. "Oh, you suck," she said half-heartedly.  
  
Sean's smile grew wider. "Alright." He stood up and began kissing Kitsune's neck.  
  
"You sneaky bastard," Kitsune said between gasps.  
  
"Flattery will get you anywhere," Sean said. He moved his lips agonizingly slow down Kitsune's neck and chest. As he reached her breasts, his hand decided to pick up where his foot left off.  
  
Kitsune sighed blissfully as Sean sucked on her breast and fondled her privates. "Oh, this feels so good," she said. "Don't ever stop!!" Sean looked only too eager to obey.  
  
--- 4:03 PM  
  
Naru walked toward the changing room. She had searched for Sean (not to mention Kitsune and Shinobu) for the last half an hour and there was no place left to look. "Hello?" She said as she opened the door. She didn't find any of the missing people, but she did find the discarded clothing of two of them. She started to get an idea of what was going on. She suddenly heard voices coming from the showers.  
  
"Is she going to be alright?"  
  
"Yeah, she'll be fine."  
  
"What's going on?" Naru asked as she walked in. She was stunned to find Sean and Shinobu kneeling over Kitsune; she wasn't moving. "What happened to her?!"  
  
"When one is exhausted, they tend to either fall asleep or pass out. I'm starting to wonder which one it is."  
  
"How long has she been out?"  
  
"Not long."  
  
"What were the two of you doing in here?"  
  
"Do you really have to ask?"  
  
"Does that mean that you--"  
  
"If it will give you peace of mind, I kept myself outside her body. Now, could you help me clean her up and get her back to her room before someone else shows up?"  
  
"Sure." As she helped Sean carry her friend to the hot spring, Naru couldn't help but wonder exactly how long they had been going at it, but something in the back of her mind told her she probably didn't want to find out.  
  
--- 5:26 PM  
  
"Wh-Where am I?" Kitsune said as she woke up.  
  
"You're in your room," A familiar voice said.  
  
She sat up quickly. "What just happened?!"  
  
Sean carefully laid her back down. "Relax. You passed out from exhaustion. Everything's going to be alright, but you need to rest for now."  
  
Kitsune stared at Sean admiringly. "Wow. You're incredible."  
  
Sean blushed. "Oh, come on." His face brightened further when he realized his choice of words.  
  
Kitsune laughed. "Seriously, I never thought you were capable of something like that."  
  
"To be honest, I didn't either. I never saw this sort of thing coming; you took me by complete surprise."  
  
"Why did you please me for so long? Not that I'm complaining or anything--"  
  
"I had to make sure you wouldn't go mad with lust again. To that effect, I'll be keeping track of you and will… take care of you if you start to feel like you did earlier today."  
  
Kitsune smiled and caressed Sean's cheek. "Thank you."  
  
"My pleasure, or should I say, yours. Anyway, Shinobu will bring you dinner tonight, so you can just stay here and get your energy back. If you need anything, I'll be right next door."  
  
"Alright." Kitsune watched Sean get up to leave. "Um, Sean?"  
  
Sean stopped at the doorway. "Yes, Kitsune?"  
  
"This has been the greatest experience of my life. Thank you so much for what you did for me."  
  
"It had to be done. I wouldn't want to know would happen if your libido went unchecked." Sean stepped out, closing the door behind him.  
  
Kitsune clutched her blanket close to her. "What a man," she said to herself. "I look forward to our next encounter."  
  
* * * End of Chapter XIII * * *  
  
Thank God I got this chapter finished. During the *ahem* creative process, it totally consumed my mind. It would never leave me alone! You can imagine how uncomfortable this would make me at work and school. Anyway, enough of my personal problems. The chapter's done and my mind is now free to think of other things, such as what to do for next time. Speaking of which, see you then! Please review! 


	15. Ch14: Mind Games

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Oh my. It seems I've knocked everyone senseless. You didn't expect something like that from me, did ya?  
  
Anyway, after giving that matter a bit of thought, I think I've discovered why I like Shinobu so much (me, not my character); it's the blue hair. It would also explain why I've had some feelings for Ami from Sailor Moon in the past. I've always loved the color (if my wardrobe is any indication), so it makes a bit of sense.  
  
Alright, back to the story. This one has some suggestive themes like the last one, but it won't be nearly as explicit. Enjoy!  
  
* * * Chapter XIV: Mind Games * * *  
  
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Shinobu asked, obviously nervous.  
  
"I have an obligation; I don't have a choice." Sean said.  
  
"Alright, then." Shinobu said, she stopped walking and let Sean go on his way unhindered. "Good luck. You're going to need it."  
  
Sean stopped in his tracks. He turned around to look at her; a look of confusion on his face. "O…kay. Thank you?" Sure, this was a bit of a unique situation, but he didn't think it was that much of a cause for concern… wasn't it?  
  
--- Tuesday, 8/7 8:04 AM (About ten minutes ago)  
  
Shinobu and Sean served breakfast together. The two have become almost inseparable as of late.  
  
"Here you go everyone," Sean said. "Enjoy!" He sat down at the table next to Shinobu even though there was no plate in front of him; he liked spending time with his friends, and during meals was probably the only time to get them all together with any regularity.  
  
All of the girls seemed to have something to occupy their lives. Sean had Shinobu as a girlfriend and Kitsune as a semi-part-time-lover (if that makes any sense), not to mention taking care of the building and those therein. Naru and Keitaro had each other in a love/pain relationship. Motoko had her kendo training; it seemed she had no need for a relationship at this time.  
  
Suu on the other hand, was a mystery. All they knew (or at least all Sean knew) was that she had a large appetite, especially for bananas, and makes petty--though sometimes dangerous--machines seemingly from scratch. Usually, she was a happy, hyper girl, just bursting with creative energy. In recent days however, she was usually found deep in thought; it started to make the others concerned and just a bit nervous as to what she could be thinking about.  
  
While eating, most of the residents were involved in uncomfortable conversations; Suu's change in personality had sucked out all the energy from the room. Eventually, the talking died down and everyone turned their gaze on the foreigner, who didn't seem to notice one bit.  
  
"What could she be thinking about?" Sean thought. "I'm starting to worry; too much thinking can be hard on the mind."  
  
"Sean?" Suu said, much to the shock of everyone present.  
  
"Uh, yeah?" He said, snapping out of his thoughts.  
  
"Could you come to my room after breakfast?" The other girls' eyes grew wide.  
  
"Um, sure thing, Suu."  
  
"Thanks." Suu got up, bowed to everyone and left, her breakfast only half-eaten.  
  
Sean looked around at the strange stares he was getting. "What? Was it something I said?"  
  
The girls continued to give him looks that seemed to say "Dead man walking."  
  
"Um, I think I'll be going now." Sean stood up and walked toward the stairs.  
  
"Wait up, Sean!" Shinobu said, rushing to his side. The others gave each other worried glances.  
  
--- (Present time)  
  
"That was certainly strange," Sean thought as he neared Suu's door. It had a sense of foreboding around it. She had never asked him to visit her there before and the other girls made it a point to tell him to avoid Suu's inner sanctum at all costs, but now he didn't have much choice right now. He told her he would before he could think of anything else; she did spring the request rather suddenly, after all.  
  
"Oh, come on," he said, trying to reassure himself. "They're probably just overreacting. How bad could her room actually be?"  
  
Sean opened the door and stuck his head in cautiously. He was just able to see the mallet before it made impact.  
  
---  
  
Sean woke up some time later. He was immediately aware that he was strapped to some sort of table. Needless to say, he was pretty worried. "What's going on?!" He yelled.  
  
A figure walked up to him. Sean noticed the white lab coat. The face above the outfit sent shivers down Sean's spine. "So you're finally awake," Suu said, a sinister smile on her face. "It's about time. Now we can begin."  
  
"What are you going to do to me?"  
  
"Oh, nothing. I'm just going to perform some experiments on you."  
  
"What kinds of 'experiments?'"  
  
"Oh, I'm just going to find out how the human body can produce magical energies like you can."  
  
"And how are you going to do that?"  
  
"I'm going to remove your brain," Suu said as she lifted up a nasty looking chainsaw and started it up. "Hold still."  
  
"NO! I like my brain right where it is!" Sean knew it was pointless to reason with a mad scientist and he closed his eyes in readiness for his demise. Suu's maniacal laughter was barely heard over the roaring chainsaw. "AAAAHHHH!!!!"  
  
---  
  
The scream echoed in Sean's mind as he jarred himself out of his daydream. He found himself right outside Suu's door. "Nah, she wouldn't do something like that." He said without any conviction whatsoever. He held out a shaky hand to open the door. "Here goes nothing," Sean said as he slowly opened the portal to his fate, whatever it might be.  
  
Only darkness greeted him as he took a few steps into the eerie room. "Suu?" He asked nervously. "Where are you?" A slight chuckle answered him; it seemed to come from everywhere around him.  
  
Suddenly there was a flick of a switch and bright light appeared all around the room, blinding Sean for a moment. When he could see clearly again, he looked at his surroundings; his eyes grew wide in amazement. From the look of things he could have sworn he just walked into the Amazon; there were tropical trees and vines everywhere.  
  
"Do you like it?" Sean looked back to find Suu standing at the door, closing it.  
  
"How did you--" Sean was still in shock at the environment around him.  
  
"You haven't seen anything yet."  
  
"What more could there possibly be?!" Sean thought. "She turned her room into a jungle, for goodness sake!"  
  
"The others must have told you about this place before." Suu said, approaching Sean.  
  
"Just that I should steer clear of it."  
  
Suu nodded. "I see. They don't really know all that goes on in here, and for good reason. If they ever knew, who knows what could happen."  
  
"I felt the same way about my magical abilities--" Sean shuddered when he remembered what Suu did to him in his daydream.  
  
Suu noticed Sean flinch. "What was that for?"  
  
"Oh, nothing." Sean waved his hand a bit, passing his thought off as nothing.  
  
"If you say so. Come with me." Suu took him by the hand and led him to another part of the room.  
  
"What's going to happen?" Sean was still a bit scared of the unknown.  
  
"You'll see." Suu led Sean to a hidden lever behind some bushes. "Will you do the honors?"  
  
Sean was a bit hesitant. "I… guess so." He nervously grabbed the lever and slowly pulled it. He heard quiet, but steady noises; he couldn't quite decipher what they were. "What's going on?"  
  
"The transformation. Besides me, you will be the only one who has even seen what my room is really like."  
  
Sean stared intently as the scene before him start to change. "So the whole jungle thing is just a disguise?"  
  
"Yes. The others must know that I'm hiding something in here, but they don't press into it too deeply."  
  
"Considering what they see you do out there, I'm not surprised. Also, a jungle for a bedroom can be quite intimidating." Sean looked on in awe as the room finished its conversion. It was something the likes of which he has never seen before.  
  
"What do you think?" Suu asked, proud with herself. "Take a look around."  
  
Sean wandered about the lab that was Suu's room. The walls were finely polished steel; blinking lights, dials, knobs and switches were everywhere. Contraptions in various states of repair were strewn about. "So, those little inventions I've seen in the past were just the tip of the iceberg. Some of the things in here would revolutionize modern science as we know it."  
  
"So I take it you like what you see."  
  
"That's an understatement. Why did you bring me here? Just showing me all this couldn't be the only reason."  
  
"You're right. There's something that I need your help with."  
  
"Well, I don't have much in the way of technical expertise, but I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Trust me, your knowledge will not be necessary." Suu gave a strange smile that made Sean's worries begin anew. Momentarily, he forgot where he was and he almost tripped over his own feet.  
  
Suu laughed a bit. "You and Keitaro can be so alike sometimes."  
  
"I know," Sean said, regaining sure footing.  
  
"Well, here we are," Suu said, gesturing toward a strange looking helmet. Wires connected it to one of the many control panels that lined the walls.  
  
Sean looked it over quizzically. "What does it do?"  
  
Suu explained the gadget proudly. "Well, this is one device I'm really proud of. It sort of a virtual reality generator, but it creates a very specific scene."  
  
Sean raised an eyebrow. "And what might that be?"  
  
"It delves into the mind of the wearer and recreates the person's deepest, darkest fantasy."  
  
Sean grew quite nervous at what Suu had planned for him. "Uh, how real will this be, exactly?"  
  
"You will feel every emotion and sensation, but your actual body will be completely unaffected."  
  
"I suppose that would depend on the fantasy."  
  
Suu scratched her head. "Maybe." She honestly had no idea what Sean was talking about. "Alright, put it on. You're going to be my test subject."  
  
"You mean you haven't tried it yourself?"  
  
"No. Someone has to work the controls."  
  
"Is this what you were so focused about?"  
  
"Yep. I was trying to figure out which of you would be worthy of being my guinea pig. I had to put my trust in one of you to keep my… secret hidden. You should be proud; you'll be experiencing your greatest desire first hand."  
  
"Okay, then. Let's get this over with." Sean said. He wasn't sure what the helmet would show him, and for some strange reason, he didn't want to know what laid dormant in his mind. He took a seat in the chair that was conveniently placed near where the hat rested.  
  
"Okay." Suu walked over to where Sean sat and proceeded to tie his arms and legs to the chair.  
  
"What's with all this?" Sean asked.  
  
"Just a precaution. You never know what might happen, and I wouldn't want you to hurt yourself." Sean nodded his understanding and followed Suu with his eyes as she picked up the helmet and placed it on Sean's head. A few seconds of silence later, Sean heard Suu's voice again, this time a bit more distant. "Are you ready?"  
  
"As I'll ever be." Mild electric currents coursed through his head, making him shut his eyes instinctively. The discomfort came and went relatively quickly, so it was bearable.  
  
---  
  
Shinobu suddenly felt something in the back of her mind. She couldn't explain it, but she knew something was happening. She walked out of her room and started toward where her mind told her to go.  
  
---  
  
Sean opened his eyes to find himself in his room. He felt as though he had just woken up. He looked at the clock; it said 7:14 AM. He got up to get dressed. As he walked to the closet, he thought something was different about himself; it wasn't anything obvious like green skin or anything, but he knew it was something. He just couldn't put his finger on what it was, exactly.  
  
After he changed, he looked at his watch out of curiosity; the date was November 15th. His mind was screaming that it was a very important day, but he just wasn't able to recall why. "This is weird. I should be remembering something, but I don't know what." He shook it off, figuring he would know soon enough.  
  
"Hello, sweetie," a somewhat familiar voice said from the door. Sean looked to find Shinobu poking her head in.  
  
"Hello, yourself."  
  
"Do you know what day this is?"  
  
Sean looked ashamed. "I'm sorry, but I don't."  
  
"Don't worry about it. You always did have trouble remembering certain dates, especially those spaced so far apart. Uh, could you meet me in the changing room for a sec?"  
  
"Alright." With the confirmation, Shinobu's head quickly disappeared.  
  
"She looked different, somehow." Sean scratched the back of his head, trying to piece things together. He shrugged his shoulders and went where he was told.  
  
As he passed through the halls, he kept thinking something was altered a bit, but he just couldn't figure out how. "This is getting very strange. First me, then Shinobu, and now everything else." He shook his head in confusion.  
  
He finally made it to the changing room. When he opened the door, he was greeted by the sight of… Shinobu?! No, it couldn't be, could it? The familiar blue hair seemed to scream at him, telling him that she was his girlfriend, but still, this did not look like the Shinobu he knew; the last time Sean saw her, he could have sworn she wasn't six feet tall and not so… developed, but that's who was standing before him. Not that he was complaining about how she looked or anything; it just caught him by surprise, that's all.  
  
Shinobu walked over to him, hugged him and kissed him on the cheek. "I love you." Pressing her towel-clad body against him.  
  
Sean kept his composure, barely, and was able to respond in kind. "I love you too."  
  
"Do you remember what day this is yet?" Sean shook his head slowly. "I see." She stepped back a bit and pointed a finger at him.  
  
Sean felt something strange envelop him, but he couldn't see what it was. As quickly as the sensation came, it left, leaving him wearing in a towel like Shinobu. He started to wonder how she did that, but then realized she had been getting proficient with spells as of late.  
  
Shinobu took him by the hand. "Come with me. There's something I want to show you." Sean nodded his approval to this as she led him out to the hot springs.  
  
Sean almost fainted when he saw the other girls, also in towels. They all seemed somewhat older than he remembered.  
  
---  
  
Suu watched this fantasy unfold on the monitor in the control panel. She was recording this, mostly to play it back later for laughs, but things were getting a bit too serious for it too be of any comical value.  
  
The thing that focused her attention the most was seeing herself in his dream, not to mention how he envisioned her grown up. She was flattered at how radiant she looked. She switched glances between the her own body, Sean, and her gorgeous figure on the screen.  
  
---  
  
"You felt it too?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah," Naru said when the two met outside Suu's room. "Something's going on in there, and I want to know what."  
  
"But Suu never lets us go in there. We should respect her wishes. Besides, we know she wouldn't hurt him or anything."  
  
"I suppose you're right, but still, I wonder what's happening…"  
  
---  
  
"What's all this?" Sean asked after he mentally calmed down a bit.  
  
"This is sort of a present for you for all you've done," Shinobu said.  
  
"Uh, thanks. I don't know what to say."  
  
"You don't have to say anything. Just enjoy yourself." Shinobu said as she removed the towel from around her and showed Sean her full-figured goodness. The others soon followed suit and beckoned Sean to do the same.  
  
"Hold it, what's going on?" Sean was still confused.  
  
"You have given us so much pleasure over the years, but still managed to remain a virgin for me. I realize how hard it must have been for you."  
  
After scanning over what the girls looked like now, he knew it would have been difficult indeed. "Yes, it has."  
  
"You have done so much for us and asked for so little in return, I figured that on this day, my 18th birthday…  
  
"Oh, that's right," Sean thought, mentally kicking himself. "November 15th is Shinobu's birthday." He was about to kick himself again when something clicked. "Wait a second… 18?! Shinobu's 18 now?! The slight differences, the full grown Shinobu and Suu, it all makes sense now; time has gone forward by about six years!"  
  
…you should finally get what you truly deserve from us," Shinobu continued. "Beginning with me." She embraced Sean and gave him a passionate kiss.  
  
Sean returned the embrace and ran his hand through Shinobu's long hair. "I'm sorry I didn't get you anything; if I had only remembered--"  
  
Shinobu separated and placed a finger to Sean's lips. "Don't be sorry. Just being here with you makes me happier than any gift ever could." She ran a finger down Sean's chest. "However, there is something you could give me." She started to tug at Sean's towel. "Something we could give each other."  
  
"Are you sure about this? This is a big step."  
  
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."  
  
"Alright, but do you mind if we get in the water first? It is a bit cold out here, after all." Not waiting for a response, Sean picked Shinobu up and carried her to the spring.  
  
Shinobu giggled. "It's been a while since you've carried me like this. I like it."  
  
Sean smiled. "Maybe I should do this more often, then." He stepped into the water and gently set her down. In the process, Shinobu grabbed Sean's towel and yanked it off him, making him gasp.  
  
"I don't think you'll be needing that," she said as she tossed it to the side. "I see you're ready to get started."  
  
Sean looked down and blushed a bit. "I guess I am." He started to lean over to kiss Shinobu when a thought popped in his head. "What about the others? Won't they feel a bit… left out?"  
  
"Don't worry about us," Kitsune assured. "After you're finished with her, it will be our turn."  
  
"And if I won't be… finished for quite a while, what will you do?"  
  
"I guess we'll just have to satisfy ourselves until then."  
  
Sean nodded. "You've thought this out well."  
  
"Well," Shinobu said, "we've had a long time to prepare."  
  
"Apparently." Sean finally met his lips with his love's. After a few glorious moments, he backed off. "Was it worth the wait?"  
  
"More than you'll ever know." Shinobu pulled Sean close to her. "More than you'll ever know."  
  
"Isn't love wonderful?" Naru asked.  
  
Kitsune eyed her lustfully. "Yes, it is." She grabbed Naru's hand and led her to the water.  
  
Suu looked at Motoko in a similar way and gestured towards to the spring. "Shall we?"  
  
"I suppose," Motoko answered. She knew that on this day of celebration, inhibitions would only get in the way.  
  
---  
  
Suu continued to watch as things got quite steamy until her attention was broken by a knock on the door. Instinctively, she shut off the lights before she opened the door a bit and stuck her head through. "Hello?"  
  
"What's going on in there?" Shinobu asked, obviously worried.  
  
"Nothing to be concerned about." Suu said calmly.  
  
"Are you sure?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Suu frowned a bit. "Yes, I'm sure." Something could be heard faintly in the background. Suu checked to see what it was before she spoke again. "In fact, I'm almost done with Sean; just a minute." Suu shut the door and turned the lights back on and went over to where Sean sat; he had just woken up from his fantasy, a wide smile on his face.  
  
"Wow. That sure was something," Sean said.  
  
"It sure was. I saw the whole thing," Suu said, pointing to the monitor, which now just showed static.  
  
Sean blushed. "Um, er…"  
  
"Don't bother trying to explain it. You probably didn't know that fantasy was there until you saw it just now."  
  
"Great," Sean said semi-sarcastically, "I'll probably never get those images out of my head."  
  
"I think that might be the least of your worries," Suu said, releasing Sean from the chair.  
  
"What do you mean?" Sean asked. Suu completely ignored him as she went over to the console, pressed a button and grabbed something that came out of a slot. "Hey what's that?" Sean asked. Still, Suu blew him off and walked to the Transformation lever and pulled it, making the jungle reappear in the room.  
  
Finally, Suu spoke. "First, I want to say that you're welcome here at any time if you feel like helping me with some of my creations. Second, do you see this?" Suu held up what looked like a CD in her hand… no, a DVD.  
  
"Uh, yeah. What's that for?"  
  
Suu grinned evilly. "This contains everything you just experienced. Guess what I'm going to do."  
  
Sean's eyes grew wide. "Oh no."  
  
"Oh yes." Suu and Sean stood silently for a few moments before Suu broke off in a run for the door.  
  
"Get back here!" Sean said as he chased Suu out the door, past a shocked Shinobu and Naru.  
  
"What was that all about?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I don't know. Let's find out." Naru said as they followed the two downstairs.  
  
"Suu, please don't do this!" Sean pleaded as they made their way to the living room, where Kitsune was lounging, slightly drunk.  
  
"Huh?" Kitsune mumbled.  
  
Suu rushed to the television, stopped and turned to face her aggressor and the two girls following him. "Naru, hold him back!"  
  
Before Sean could prevent it, Naru wrapped her arms around him and forced him onto the couch, which Kitsune had vacated just moments before.  
  
"Naru, please," Sean said, struggling unsuccessfully to get free. "I need to get something from Suu before she--"  
  
"Before I do this?" Suu said, grinning as she put the disk in the DVD player.  
  
"No, please don't!!" Sean screamed, but to no avail.  
  
"What's going on?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'll explain in a bit, but first, get Motoko and Keitaro in here; I want them here to see this." Shinobu nodded and ran off.  
  
"Why do you have to do this?!" Sean ranted.  
  
"I think they deserve to know," Suu said.  
  
"Sean, what is all this? Know what?" Naru asked, worried about what might have happened.  
  
Just then, Shinobu came back with Motoko and Keitaro in tow. "Ah, everyone's here," Suu said. "Now I can begin."  
  
"What's this all about?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Good question. The reason why I asked Sean to my room was so that I could try out one of my latest innovations: a virtual reality fantasy simulator."  
  
"A what?" Shinobu asked, a bit confused.  
  
"Basically," Sean added, "it goes deep into the person's mind and uncovers their deepest, darkest desires and allows them to experience it first-hand."  
  
"But why were you chasing her just now?" Naru asked, still holding Sean in place.  
  
"Well," Sean glared at Suu. "she recorded my experience on a DVD and plans to show it to us. Frankly, I'm not too thrilled at the idea."  
  
"Ooh." That got Kitsune's attention. "What kind of fantasy was it?"  
  
"You'll find out soon enough," Suu said.  
  
"C'mon, does everyone have to see this?" Sean whined.  
  
"Yes, they do. They might find it as interesting as I did."  
  
"You've seen it already?" Motoko raised an eyebrow.  
  
"Yes. And now, so will you."  
  
"Wait a sec!" Sean yelled.  
  
"You can't stop me from doing this."  
  
"That's not what I meant. If Keitaro's going to see this, he's going to need something." Sean concentrated a bit and a box of tissues appeared in Keitaro's hand. "There. That should be enough."  
  
"What?" Keitaro was a bit puzzled by the action.  
  
"Trust me. You're going to need every last one."  
  
"Ahem," Suu cleared her throat, getting everyone attention back on her. "Without further delay, I bring to you, Sean's greatest fantasy." She pressed Play and took a seat next to Sean.  
  
"Do I need to be here?" Sean asked.  
  
"Your unique perspective might serve useful."  
  
After everyone saw (or re-saw) Sean's fantasy in its entirety, they gave him some weird looks.  
  
"Wow," Naru said, amazed at what she witnessed. "Is that how you see us in 6 years? I'm flattered." Sean blushed deeply.  
  
Shinobu blushed as well. "Will I really look that attractive when I grow up?"  
  
"Don't ever think you won't," Sean affirmed.  
  
Shinobu smiled and hugged him. "You always know how to cheer up a girl."  
  
Sean blushed again. "This is so embarrassing."  
  
Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "Why should you be so humiliated? Everyone has fantasies."  
  
"I'm sure you one to know about fantasies," Sean said smugly. "Anyway, I never knew about that one until today; or at least not consciously. And even if I did, I wouldn't want it displayed on a television screen for everyone to see!"  
  
"I think it's cute that you think about us," Kitsune said.  
  
"Is sex all guys ever fantasize about?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Are you saying you don't?" Sean responded, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Motoko blushed a bit. "I don't have such perverted thoughts!"  
  
"I don't believe you." Sean turned his gaze to Suu. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"  
  
Suu looked confused for a bit until she realized what he meant. "Yes, I think so." She looked at Motoko with an evil grin on her face. "I think it's someone else's turn to try out the fantasy helmet."  
  
Motoko's eyes grew wide in horror. "What?! NO!!"  
  
"And why not? You've seen my fantasy. I think I deserve to see yours."  
  
"And what makes you think I'll let you do that?"  
  
"What makes you think you have a choice?" Sean raised a couple fingers.  
  
"HEY! I can't move!"  
  
"Exactly. And since your so adamant against me seeing what lurks in that brain of yours, I think I'll just go ahead and let everyone see it." Sean walked over to Motoko's frozen form.  
  
"Oh, you will be so dead when I'm able to move again, I swear!"  
  
"Yeah, yeah. If it's as good for you as it was for me, you'll change your tune. Suu, let's do this." Suu bounded off the couch and landed on Sean's shoulders.  
  
"Hold on," Kitsune said. "Where will we be seeing this?"  
  
"I'll transmit the picture straight to the TV here in the living room. Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to get ready." The three soon vanished without a trace.  
  
"This is going to be interesting," Kitsune said, grinning.  
  
---  
  
"Why do you have to do this?" A blindfolded Motoko pleaded as she was strapped to the chair next to the simulator helmet.  
  
"You have to relax," Sean said. "Go with the flow. This is supposed to be a very enjoyable experience. I was also afraid at first, but as you saw, I went along for the ride and had a good time doing it."  
  
"But why me?"  
  
"You conceal your emotions too much. You need to express yourself in a way that isn't potentially life-threatening."  
  
"My emotions are just fine the way they are!"  
  
"I disagree." Sean walked over to Suu, who was working at the controls.  
  
"Is everything ready?" Suu asked.  
  
"Yes, the preparations are complete," Sean said, trying to make it sound like some mad scientist movie.  
  
"Good," Suu said, barely able to hold back laughter. "Let's get started."  
  
--- (A few minutes later,)  
  
"Wow," Naru said as she watched Motoko's fantasy displayed on the television screen.  
  
"Alright, Motoko!" Kitsune cheered. "You go, girl!"  
  
"Oh my," Shinobu muttered, blushing brightly. "I didn't think a person could do that."  
  
While the three girls were fascinated by what they were seeing, they paid no attention to Keitaro, who laid passed out on the floor. There were about a dozen tissues clutched in his hand, all of them soaked with blood.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XIV * * *  
  
Ha! You thought I was going to show you Motoko's fantasy, didn't you? You'll just have to use your imaginations. I wonder if I'll be able to turn this story in a direction not so... well, you know. Oh well. Please review! 


	16. Ch15: Dreamers

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean and Shonoko are mine.  
  
On with the show!  
  
* * * Chapter XV: Dreamers * * *  
  
"No, don't kill them!" Sean struggled to say.  
  
"You're in no position to make demands, weakling." Shonoko said as she readied her attack against the girls, who were huddled together in fright.  
  
Sean was lying on the ground. His body was battered, bruised and bloody; apparently he and his nemesis had been engaged in an intense battle, and he didn't look like the winner.  
  
"Secret Dark Technique: Life Draining Blade!" Shonoko made a horizontal sweep with her sword and a wave of pitch-black energy shot towards the scared group.  
  
"NO!" Sean yelled as he reached out with his hand in a futile attempt to reach his friends. The wave hit, engulfing all that he held dear to his heart. When the energy faded, there was nothing left; not even ashes. "Why did you have to do that?! It wasn't them that you were after! Why couldn't you have just killed me and spared them?!"  
  
"Because I enjoy watching you suffer," Shonoko said, approaching him. "You have been a thorn in my side for far too long; I wanted to see your spirit broken before I finally destroyed you."  
  
Tears flowed from Sean's eyes. "I can't end this way; it just can't…"  
  
"You have no say in the matter," Shonoko smiled as she stood above him, sword poised to strike. "I'm going to love this." She brought her blade down to make the final blow.  
  
---  
  
Sean woke up with a start, clutching his neck. After catching his breath for a moment, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Damn it," he thought. He looked at the clock: 2:48 AM; he had been asleep for almost three hours. "I guess this is about as good a time as any," he muttered to himself as he got out of bed and changed. He knew he wouldn't be getting much more sleep that morning.  
  
Monday, 8/20 2:56 AM  
  
Sean walked out into the hot springs, mop and bucket in hand. He knew this was the best time to clean there, since nobody ever used it this early in the morning. He scrubbed about as hard as he was able without snapping the mop in two in an effort to force the unpleasant images of his recent nightmare from his mind. He was so involved in his work that he didn't notice someone approaching from behind.  
  
"Is everything alright, Sean?"  
  
Sean quickly turned around, holding the mop like a staff, ready to defend himself to the last. He soon recognized Naru, a bit frightened, backing away. He lowered his improvised weapon and his gaze. "Sorry. I guess I'm just a bit jumpy this morning."  
  
"Is something the matter?" Naru asked, slowly walking closer. She was wearing a nightshirt and by the look of her hair, just got out of bed a minute ago.  
  
"I just had a… bad dream, that's all."  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"No, I don't want to bother you with my problems. Besides, you should be getting back to bed; don't you have that entrance exam today?"  
  
"Yeah, I do."  
  
"You need to get as much rest as you can, then. I hear those tests can be murder."  
  
Naru could have sworn she saw Sean's eye twitch when he said that, but she didn't want to press the issue. "Yeah, they can. I guess I'll see you later, then." Sean nodded, then went back to work cleaning the hot spring.  
  
"I wonder what his dream was about," Naru said to herself as she walked back to her room, "that could make him act that way. He almost jumped out of his skin when I spoke to him. I should ask him about it after I get back from the exam today."  
  
---  
  
"I can't believe what I almost did just now," Sean thought, angry with himself. "To think that I would ever raise a mop in anger against anyone, much less Naru. I need to find a way to calm down before I hurt someone."  
  
--- 8:47 AM  
  
Everyone gathered at the front door to wish Keitaro and Naru luck in the coming test as they left.  
  
"I just know you will do well," Shinobu said.  
  
"Thank you," Keitaro said. "I'm sure I'll get in this time around."  
  
"You had better," Naru added. "I wouldn't want all the time we spent studying together to be for nothing."  
  
"Oh come on," Kitsune said, elbowing her. "Don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."  
  
Naru blushed a bit. "Um, well--"  
  
"Kitsune, leave the poor girl alone," Sean said. "She has enough on her mind as it is without you badgering her."  
  
"Hmph," Kitsune muttered, crossing her arms.  
  
"Anyway, do your best, you two; that's all anyone can expect from you."  
  
"Yep, we're going to knock 'em dead!" Keitaro said, raising him arm as though he had already passed.  
  
"Let's go, Mr. Happy, before you jinx us or something," Naru said, pushing Keitaro out the door and closing it behind her.  
  
"What was that for?" Keitaro asked, confused.  
  
"Keitaro, can I ask you something?" Naru asked.  
  
Keitaro was surprised by Naru sudden change in tone. "Sure, what is it?"  
  
"Um, have you seen Sean acting a bit strange today?"  
  
"Not really. Why, do you think something's wrong?"  
  
Naru had to choose her next words carefully. She didn't want him to know she was with Sean earlier that morning. "Maybe. When you said 'knock 'em dead,' I saw him flinch. I'm beginning to wonder if something's bothering him."  
  
"I don't think you should worry. If something is disturbing him, it's probably not that important or else he would have told us. He has solved our problems so often, I think he also solve his own. Trust me, when we get back, he'll be just fine."  
  
"Thank you," Naru said, a smile appearing on her face. "But I can't help but wonder just how bad his dream was," she thought.  
  
---  
  
"She has the hots for him, I can tell," Kitsune said.  
  
"Tell us something we don't know," Sean said as he started to leave.  
  
Shinobu noticed Sean in deep thought. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, no, I just have something on my mind right now."  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"It's nothing you need to concern yourself with."  
  
Back near the door, Motoko said, "Well, I'm going to go train. See you later."  
  
Upon hearing this, a light went on in Sean's head. "Yes, that's it," he said, barely audible. He then started to run for his room.  
  
"I wonder what that was all about?" Kitsune wondered, scratching her head.  
  
--- 9:01 AM  
  
Motoko walked out to the roof to find Sean standing there. Seeing the blue kendo outfit he was wearing brought up some unpleasant memories. "What are you doing up here? Are you going to try to become my student again?"  
  
Sean looked all business. "No. I just want to spar with you for a while."  
  
"May I ask why?"  
  
"I'll explain the whole thing later. For now, I just need to let off some steam. Don't expect me to hold back."  
  
"Alright, then." Motoko said as she readied her fighting stance. "If that's what you want."  
  
"Just don't use any of those ki moves," Sean added as an afterthought. "I wouldn't want a repeat of the disaster from last time." Sean remembered the incident only all too well.  
  
"Agreed." Motoko saw Sean charge toward her, bokken in hand and a look of pure hatred in his eyes. "Why is he acting like this?" she thought. "He's usually not prone to violence." Her thoughts were interrupted by Sean swinging his sword at her almost like a man possessed… um, maybe there's a better way of putting that…  
  
"I have to keep Shonoko in my thoughts," Sean thought as he hacked and slashed at his sparring partner. "I have to think I'm tearing her to bits."  
  
Motoko was able to put up a defense pretty easily, mostly due to Sean's lack of focus. "I just have to keep him from hitting me," she thought. "He's putting all of his strength behind these attacks, and if I should be hit by one of them, it would definitely hurt."  
  
After almost ten full minutes of non-stop combat, Sean's muscles were aching. "No," he thought. "I can't let up now; I can't let Shonoko beat me again…" By this time, he was already down on his hands and knees, gasping for air.  
  
"Are you alright, Sean?" Motoko asked; she had barely broken a sweat during the onslaught. Sean looked to be in his own little world, completely ignoring her. She cautiously approached him, going down on one knee. She could hear him muttering something.  
  
"I can't give up; I won't. I can't let her beat me again; she has to be stopped somehow…"  
  
Curious as to who he was referring to, Motoko decided to try to bring Sean back to planet Earth. She picked him up so he was sitting on his knees and started shaking him violently.  
  
"NO! Don't hurt them! Kill me if you want, but leave my friends alone, PLEASE!!" A slap to the face finally brought Sean around. "Wha-- what's going on?"  
  
"What were you talking about just now?" Motoko asked, concerned about his well-being.  
  
Tears appeared in Sean's eyes. "I'm sorry I had to do all this, but I had to before I… I…"  
  
"What's wrong? Who can't you let beat you again?"  
  
Sean was hesitant to say what he needed to so badly. "I had a nightmare last night; Shonoko was in it. She killed you all mercilessly and I could do nothing to prevent it."  
  
Motoko was surprised by what Sean said. "Why not?"  
  
"I was too injured by my fight with her to move. I saw you all die, then she went for me. She was about to finish me off when I woke up."  
  
"Wow. So that was why you attacked me so fiercely."  
  
Sean nodded. "But I wouldn't have been so worried if it just the one time, though."  
  
"You mean you've had this dream before?"  
  
"Every night for the last three weeks. The exact way Shonoko kills is different with each dream, but the ending is the same. I finally snapped today when, while cleaning the spring, I almost attacked Naru with a mop. It was then that I knew I had to do something before I went off the deep end." Sean hugged Motoko close to him. "Thank you for letting me do this. I just didn't want to something I would regret."  
  
Motoko was a bit taken aback when Sean embraced her, but quickly recovered and returned the favor. "Anytime, Sean."  
  
"Why am I having these nightmares? We've already beaten her once before; I don't want to have to do it again, and again, and again…"  
  
"Sean, calm down. Everything's going to be fine. It was all just dreams; nothing more."  
  
"I know, but they were all so real; you just kept dying over and over, and I couldn't do anything but watch. I don't want to lose any of you; ever."  
  
Motoko was stunned. "To think he's so torn up about not being able to save us in his dreams," she thought. "Of course, if I kept seeing my friends die each and every night for weeks on end, I'd probably be acting the same way."  
  
Her thoughts soon turned to other things. "This feels so… wonderful." Motoko started to experience certain feelings she's never had before. She began to blush as certain thoughts made themselves known in her mind. "Why am I thinking like this?" her thoughts continued. "Could I be…"  
  
"Uh, Motoko?"  
  
This startled Motoko out of her thoughts. "Yes, Sean?"  
  
"Is something troubling you?"  
  
"Um, no, why do you ask?"  
  
Sean's voice seemed a bit strained. "Well, your feel a bit tense all of a sudden. Plus, I'm having a bit of difficulty breathing right now, so if you could just loosen up a bit--"  
  
"Oh, sorry." Motoko quickly released him from the embrace.  
  
Sean noticed Motoko's face was a deep shade of red. "Are you feeling okay?"  
  
"I'm not sure if I could tell him," Motoko thought. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her cheek and couldn't help but look at the source.  
  
Sean looked concerned. "You shouldn't hold back your emotions. I know from experience that it isn't a pleasant thing and you'll probably feel better if you get it off your chest. Besides, being afraid doesn't suit you."  
  
Motoko was inspired by Sean's advice. "It's just that I started to have thoughts about us being… together."  
  
"Together like me and Kitsune?" Motoko slowly nodded. "Don't be ashamed. Everyone has feelings like that at some point in their lives."  
  
"I just don't know what to do. This feels so strange to me right now."  
  
"It can be a bit tough a grasp at first, but you'll get more comfortable about it as time goes on."  
  
"I hope so. I wouldn't want to feel this awkward all the time."  
  
"Is there anything I can do to help?"  
  
Motoko blushed again. "Well, there is one thing…" She wrapped her arms around his waist and slowly pressed her lips against his.  
  
"I'm glad she's feeling more comfortable showing emotion," Sean thought, after a few moments with a complete lack of rationality.  
  
"Oh my god," Motoko thought. "This feels so good. Now I know why Shinobu and Kitsune enjoy this so much."  
  
Eventually, they had to separate so they could catch their breath. "Did you enjoy it?" Sean asked.  
  
"You have no idea." Motoko had a smile Sean had never seen on her before.  
  
"Then perhaps we will meet like this again sometime--if you want to, that is."  
  
"I would like that very much."  
  
"It's good to see you open up to new experiences. You won't regret it. For now though, we should probably get back before they start to wonder where I'm at."  
  
"You go ahead. I still have some exercises to do."  
  
Sean chuckled a bit. "I guess our little battle didn't give you much of a workout, did it?"  
  
"Not really, but you were blinded by rage, so it was an easy task to defend myself."  
  
"If I keep having these nightmares, I may have to call on you again."  
  
"No problem." Motoko watched Sean magically change into his normal clothes and walk inside. When he was out of sight, she sighed happily and continued her practice without outside interruptions.  
  
--- 1:24 PM  
  
"…So that's why you were so worried about him," Keitaro said as he, along with Naru and Mutsumi walked up the front steps. Naru had just told them about her run-in with Sean in the hot spring that morning.  
  
"Yeah. He didn't want to tell me what the dream he had was about, but I knew it must have been pretty bad to cause such a burst of aggression from someone as nonviolent as him."  
  
"Why didn't he want to tell you?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"He thought it would distract me from today's test."  
  
"Well," Keitaro said, "you know probably better than I do that the last thing he wants is for us to be upset because of him."  
  
"Your right, but I plan to ask him about it when we get back."  
  
"Well, here's your chance," Keitaro said, pointing out Sean leaning against the front door.  
  
"Welcome back," Sean greeted. "I haven't seen you in a while, Mutsumi. How have you been?"  
  
"I can't complain; and you?"  
  
"I'm good."  
  
"What about that nightmare you had last night?" Naru asked.  
  
That seemed to spark something in Sean's brain. "Oh yeah, that. I figured out a way to vent, so you don't have to worry about me wielding a mop against you again; unless you're feeling dirty or something." Sean couldn't help but laugh as Naru blushed uncontrollably as she apparently thought of ways Sean might use a mop aside from being a weapon.  
  
"How did you do that?" Mutsumi asked after Sean's laughter died down.  
  
"I became Motoko's sparring partner for the day. Afterwards, we agreed that if I kept having these dreams, we would meet again." He decided to keep the other plans the two may have hidden for the time being. "Well, enough about me, how well do you think you did today?"  
  
Keitaro gave him a thumbs up. "I'm pretty much a shoe-in for Toudai."  
  
Naru responded by slapping Keitaro on the back of the head. "You know damn well that there's still another day of tests left."  
  
"Yeah, but if tomorrow's tests go as well as today's there won't be any problems."  
  
"Well," Sean interrupted, "that's Keitaro, but how about you two?"  
  
"I did just fine," Naru said, still glaring at Keitaro.  
  
"I also did well. It looks like all three of us will get in at the same time."  
  
"That's wonderful. I'd like to celebrate, but you three probably want to study for the next exams."  
  
Naru nodded. "Yeah, we'd better get started before we're distracted for too long." She grabbed both Keitaro and Mutsumi by the arm and started to lead them to her room.  
  
"In case you were hungry, I had Shinobu make you something in advance. You want me to bring it to you?" Sean called out to them.  
  
"Great, thanks!" Naru called back just as the three went out of sight.  
  
"I wonder if Keitaro knows how lucky he really is," Sean said to himself.  
  
--- (That night,)  
  
"You can't stop me!" Shonoko yelled with malicious glee. "You will never stop me!" She walked over to where the girls were shackled to the floor. "You will experience ever-lasting torment as I snap their necks one by one."  
  
"NO!" Sean screamed. "I will not let you do this to me again!!"  
  
"And what do you hope to do about it?" Both of Sean's legs had been broken.  
  
"Just watch." Sean knew this had to have a different outcome in order for his life to return to normal--or at least as close to normal as it would ever get.  
  
Shonoko looked on in horror as Sean lifted himself by unknown methods and ended up actually hovering a few inches above the ground, his now useless legs dangled below him. "But how--that's impossible!"  
  
"In the world of dreams, nothing's impossible; nothing except you having your way for any longer!"  
  
"Try as you might, you can't stop me from--" Shonoko turned around to find the business end of Motoko's sword just inches from her face.  
  
"Can't stop you from what, exactly?" Motoko said. She, along with the others had mysteriously been released from their chains.  
  
The laugh emanating from Sean sent a chill down Shonoko's spine. "I think it's time you found out just how it feels to be tormented."  
  
---  
  
Sean smiled evilly in his sleep as he dreamed himself and the girls doing things to his most hated adversary that could only be described as cruel and unusual punishment.  
  
---  
  
Motoko smiled as well, but in a pleasant way as her dreams depicted what she hoped Sean and herself might do in the future.  
  
---  
  
Keitaro, Mutsumi and Naru had fallen asleep together while studying in Naru's room. All three of them saw themselves getting into Toudai together. Granted, there were a few discrepancies from person to person, but the basic idea was the same.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XV * * *  
  
That's another one in the books. I've already got an idea for the next chapter and I believe you will like what I intend to do. See you then! Please review! 


	17. Ch16: Arrivals and Departures

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Thanks to those of you who have stuck by me all this time (you know who you are). This chapter will be a bit different from the other ones. Like the Intermission, this one will be split into differfent parts with no relevence to each other. I hope this isn't too much of a stretch for you. If it is, then you probably wouldn't be reading this right now, so I don't know why I'm saying it. Anyway, this first part involves something I've wanted to do for the last 10 chapters and it's good to finally get it over with.  
  
* * * Chapter XVI * * *  
  
* Part One: Arrivals *  
  
Monday, 9/3 11:23 AM (A/N: I don't know if Labor Day is celebrated in Japan or not.)  
  
"Well, this certainly is exciting," Sean muttered sarcastically.  
  
"Tell me about it." Kitsune agreed.  
  
The new school year has gotten under way, and the two of them were the only ones with nowhere to be. They both knew Hinata-Sou would get very boring for half the day.  
  
"At least we should be glad that Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi all got into Toudai."  
  
"Don't remind me." Kitsune still had a hangover from the party they had the night before to celebrate the occasion.  
  
"Well, now that we have the whole place to ourselves, what do you want to do?" Sean asked, knowing full well what the answer might be.  
  
"Oh, I don't feel like doing much of anything right now. Let's just watch some TV until this stupid headache goes away."  
  
"You really shouldn't drink so much, Kitsune."  
  
"Don't start preaching to me, Sean, it's not going to help."  
  
"Eh, I don't feel like lecturing anyway."  
  
They spent the next hour just laying on the couch, watching television. "I wish this thing got Comedy Central," Sean thought after a while.  
  
The only break in the monotony arrived with a knock at the door. "I'll get it," Sean said, getting up. Kitsune just muttered something incomprehensibly.  
  
"Hello?" Sean said as he opened the door. He saw a man, a woman and a child.  
  
"And who might you me?" The woman asked, raising an eyebrow. Both parents had an unlit cigarette hanging loosely from their lips.  
  
"I'm the landlord."  
  
"How did you get a job here?" The man asked.  
  
"I applied here, how else?" Sean muttered as though he had explained himself countless times before.  
  
"Then you must be Sean." The woman said.  
  
"How do you know my name?"  
  
"I was the one who hired you."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Who's at the door, Sean?" Kitsune asked. She immediately recognized the people at the door. "Oh, welcome back."  
  
"Hello, Kitsune. Staying out of trouble, I trust?" The man said.  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"You know them?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yeah. That's Haruka, that's Seta, and the girl is… what was your name again?"  
  
"Sarah." The blond girl said, obviously bored.  
  
"Haruka… where do I remember that name from?"  
  
An idea appeared in Kitsune's mind. "Hey Haruka, you don't happen to know someone named Keitaro, do you?"  
  
"Yeah, he's my nephew, why?"  
  
All the pieces fell into place in Sean's mind. "Well, apparently, your nephew has been staying here for a while."  
  
"Is that so? Well, I'd love to just stand here in the doorway and chat like this, but--"  
  
Sean stepped aside with a start. "Where are my manners? Please, come in."  
  
"Thank you." The three entered and were led to the living room.  
  
Sean took note of the girl's size and approximate age. "How long were they on their honeymoon again?" he whispered to Kitsune.  
  
Kitsune laughed a bit. "Sarah's her stepdaughter."  
  
"Ah."  
  
Seta, Haruka and Sarah took a seat on the couch, while Sean and Kitsune sat in chairs to one side.  
  
"So," Haruka started, "where is that nephew of mine?"  
  
"He's at school along with everyone else except us two," Sean answered.  
  
"He still going to that cram school?" Seta asked.  
  
"Nope. He's enrolled in Tokyo U."  
  
"So he finally made it." Sean nodded. "How long have you been here?"  
  
"From what I hear, since the day after you left."  
  
"I knew I should have waited for you to arrive," Haruka mentally kicked herself.  
  
"I doubt it would have mattered that much, but pain might not have been an issue if you had."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, picture Naru's reaction after finding me in the hot spring."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"You're telling me. I was out cold for three hours."  
  
"Have things improved since then?"  
  
"There have been some ups and downs, but I think times are better for all of us now more than ever. I won't go into everything that has happened since my arrival; not enough hours in a day."  
  
"Why is a dork like you living in a place like this?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Well, don't we have a cheerful personality today. To answer your question, I wanted to get some business experience, and I saw an ad for an opening here. If only you hadn't neglected to mention what this place really was instead of just a 'hotel.'"  
  
"Did I forget to say that?" Haruka asked.  
  
"Yes you did, but everything's turned out fine. My beatings have almost stopped entirely. I just wish it was the same way for Keitaro." Sean shook his head and sighed. "At least he can take a punch well; better than I could ever do, but it's still an inconvenience."  
  
"That's Keitaro for you," Haruka said.  
  
"Yep," Seta added. He turned to Kitsune. "Well, how's Sean been treating you all?"  
  
"Oh, he's just wonderful," Kitsune said. "He respects our privacy and our modesty. He actually goes out of his way not to peek at us."  
  
"I just don't want to be accused of being perverted, that's all," Sean said.  
  
"So he hasn't tried to make any moves on you or anything?" Haruka asked.  
  
"Are you kidding?" Kitsune got up, walked over to Sean and sat on his lap, wrapping her arms around him. "We're the ones flirting with him. I swear, with all the times he's resisted my advances, he must have the strongest will of any man I've ever seen."  
  
"That may be true," Sean added, "but you don't know just how hard it gets sometimes."  
  
"Like when?"  
  
Sean blushed deeply. "Like now."  
  
"Really?" Kitsune started to get that look on her face. "Then let's see how… hard I can make this for you." She then began rubbing her butt against his privates.  
  
"Kitsune, don't," Sean whined.  
  
"Why?" Kitsune asked seductively. "I can tell you're enjoying this."  
  
"I have to put up with sort of thing daily," Sean said to his guests. "And since the two of us will be alone for half the day--what with the school year and all--I fear it will only get WORSE." Everyone noticed Sean grit his teeth and grip the arms of his chair. Even then, his arms were visibly shaking.  
  
"See what I mean?" Kitsune said. "No matter what I do to him, he refuses to act on his hormones."  
  
"That must be a bit hard on you, too," Haruka noted.  
  
"Oh no. I can… coax him into pleasing me; he just won't let me--or anyone else--return the favor."  
  
"I see," Seta said, rubbing his chin.  
  
Sean noticed Kitsune start to increase her efforts--visually and otherwise. "I think you all should go before this turns ugly."  
  
"Alright," Haruka said. "I should get to opening the shop anyway."  
  
The three walked to the front door. As Haruka closed the door behind them, she heard one last exchange:  
  
"KITSUNE, STOP THIS, PLEASE!!"  
  
"No! I'm not going to give up! You can't hold out forever!"  
  
--- 2:53 PM  
  
Keitaro and Naru saw Haruka when they passed by the tea shop on their way back from school.  
  
"Aunt Haruka!" Keitaro said. "When did you get--ow!" Haruka slapped him hard on the back of the head  
  
"Just Haruka. We just got back today."  
  
"It's good to see you again. Have you met Sean yet?" Naru asked.  
  
"We sure did," Seta said, stepping outside. "He sure is something--exactly what I can't be sure."  
  
"What has he told you?" Keitaro wondered.  
  
"Well, just that--"  
  
"AAH!!!" Everyone turned to see Sean running frantically down the steps.  
  
"Sean, get back here and take what coming to you!" A familiar voice said, not too far behind.  
  
"Oh no," Naru said. "Is Kitsune coming on to Sean again?"  
  
"Sure is," Haruka said grimly, looking at her watch. "Apparently she's been after him for the last couple hours."  
  
Sean continued to run until he saw the group before him. "Thank god," he sighed. He skidded to a stop a few feet past them, almost falling on his face in the process.  
  
"I've got you now!" Kitsune said when she came into view. "Hold him for me, Naru."  
  
Naru looked to find a look of pure desperation on Sean's face. "I'm sorry, Naru."  
  
"What?" was all she could say before Sean grabbed her breasts. Instinctively, she sent him flying halfway across town.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Kitsune asked. "I almost had him that time!"  
  
"If he doesn't want you to do that to him," Haruka said, "why don't you respect his wishes?"  
  
"His mind says no, but his body says yes. I'm going to get him one of these days, and he's going to thank me for it afterward." She stomped off back to the dorm.  
  
"Is it like this all the time?" Seta asked.  
  
"Not all the time, but it does happen quite often," Keitaro answered.  
  
"Why doesn't he just give in? He's torturing himself doing what he's doing."  
  
"He's saving himself for Shinobu."  
  
"He's what?!" Haruka was shocked by what he said.  
  
"Sean and Shinobu have been going out for a while," Naru said. "The guy's determined to not be on the receiving end of anything sexual until Shinobu's of age."  
  
"Goodness," Seta said. "I can't imagine how he can stand it."  
  
"I sure wouldn't be able to," Keitaro said.  
  
After twenty minutes of the reunited friends and family members swapping stories (Keitaro and Naru made sure to keep Sean's abilities hidden for the moment), Sean returned, a nasty looking bruise on his face.  
  
"Thank you, Naru," Sean said, "for saving me from her."  
  
"You know Kitsune won't give up until she pleases you, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I know. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to my room before she finds me again." Sean half-staggered up the steps.  
  
"He's one of a kind," Seta said.  
  
"You don't know the half of it," Naru added.  
  
--- (Meanwhile,)  
  
"I should have done this long ago," Kitsune said to herself as she sat on Sean's bed, flipping through his spell book. "He won't get away from me again; no way no how. Ah, here's the one." She read a certain page of the binder, a sadistic grin on her face.  
  
---  
  
Sean walked through Hinata House cautiously towards his room, his eyes darting back and forth. He knew that Kitsune might appear out of anywhere. He reached his destination without incident. "That was almost too easy," he thought as he opened his door. Finally safe from Kitsune, he allowed himself to relax a bit. He laid himself down on his futon. "What am I going to do about her?" he said to himself.  
  
"You won't be doing anything," a voice said.  
  
"What?!" Sean tried to get up but was unable to move. "What's going on?"  
  
Kitsune came into Sean's sight range. "I have you right where I want you."  
  
Sean recognized the binder in her hand. "Oh no."  
  
"That's right. You can't do anything until I say you can."  
  
"Please, there must be some other way!"  
  
"I've tried every other way. You've left me no choice."  
  
"But I don't want this!"  
  
"Shut up! You're going to enjoy this, and I won't stop until you do." Kitsune stripped off her clothes, then crawled on top of Sean's frozen frame and started grinding her crotch against his. She could feel his erection through his sweatpants. "Now that's what I'm talking about. You'll thank me for this later."  
  
Screams could be heard from Sean's room all over the building, but if you listened closely, you could tell Sean's cries weren't exactly ones of terror, if you know what I mean.  
  
* End of Part 1 *  
  
Well, that turned out differently than I expected. *Ahem* Let's just move on, shall we?  
  
* Part 2: Departures *  
  
Saturday, 9/22 -- Diary of Maehara Shinobu  
  
It's been a few days now since Sean left. I'm probably missing him more than anyone else here. I know he'll be back, but still, not having him around is tearing me up inside. I still remember when he made the announcement…  
  
--- Wednesday, 9/19 8:06 AM  
  
Breakfast that morning was eerie to say the least. On most days, Sean was quite cheerful; or if he wasn't, he would just put up a decent façade to stave off any worried glances. This time, he made no effort to hide himself. Everyone could see plain as day that he was deep in thought; so much so that he seemed completely unaware of the looks he was getting.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Shinobu eventually asked.  
  
"It's just that I want to say something, but I don't know how to put it."  
  
"You know you can tell us anything," Naru said. "Go ahead."  
  
"You're not going to like it."  
  
"I'm sure it couldn't be that bad," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, alright, but don't say I didn't warn you." Sean sighed and internally built up the strength to form the words. "I'm going to be leaving today."  
  
"WHAT?!!" Everyone said in unison.  
  
"Why?!" Shinobu asked, tears welling up in her eyes.  
  
"Calm down, everyone. I will return, but I just don't know when."  
  
"Where will you go and why can't you take us with you?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I'm not sure exactly where I'll end up and I don't want to pull everyone away from school." Sean shot a look at Kitsune to keep her comments to herself.  
  
"Don't you want us around anymore?" Naru asked.  
  
"Now you know that's not true. I just need some time to myself to work on some spells, that's all."  
  
"Why can't you do that here?"  
  
"Because what I have planned might be very dangerous and I don't want to deal with the guilt should anyone get hurt. Besides, this is the biggest project I will have ever attempted and it will demand my utmost attention."  
  
"I see," Motoko said. "Being around us could very well be the biggest distraction a man could have."  
  
"Exactly. While I'm gone, I will leave my duties as manager in the capable hands of Keitaro and Shinobu, though I don't intend for them to take precedence over your studies."  
  
"I see you have thought this out to a great extent," Motoko noted.  
  
"I had to. This is a very delicate matter and I didn't want to leave anything unsaid other than things that I would rather not reveal at this time. There is one last thing I have to do before I leave." Sean reached into his pocket and retrieved an odd-looking, multi-hued ring. He tossed it in Keitaro's direction.  
  
"What is this?" Keitaro asked as he examined it.  
  
"Ever since you arrived, I have brought you back after your… mishaps involving the girls. I will not be able to do that if I'm not here, so I created that ring that will do it for me."  
  
"Will I have to activate it or anything?"  
  
"No. It will automatically trigger after you are hit, bringing you back to our room. If there is nothing else to be done, I must get my things ready." He bowed and showed himself out. Everyone just watched him leave, none of them knowing what to say.  
  
--- 9:12 AM  
  
The whole group walked down the front steps together; they knew it would be the last time they would see Sean for a long time from the suitcases he was carrying with him. When they reached the bottom, Shinobu wrapped her arms around Sean tightly; she wished she wouldn't have to let go.  
  
"I don't want you to leave!"  
  
"This is hard for me, too. I wish I could do this here or at least bring you with me, but there are too many problems involved with both of those ideas. If I am to do what I need to for my experiments, I need to find some place to be alone. Don't worry; I'll keep in touch."  
  
Shinobu sniffled a bit. "Alright, then. I understand."  
  
"Good. Now go on; I don't want you to be late for school because of me."  
  
"I'll miss you, Sean."  
  
"I'll miss you too." Shinobu broke off her embrace and ran off, tears trailing behind her.  
  
"I wish you success in your endeavor," Motoko said as she rushed after Shinobu to try to console her.  
  
"Come home soon, Sean," Naru said as she kissed him on the cheek and went on her way. Everyone else also said their goodbyes, leaving Sean alone at the base of the hill.  
  
"There should have been an easier way to do this," Sean said to himself, fighting back tears. "But the sooner I go, the sooner I can get back to those I love." He took one last look at Hinata-Sou before he vanished without a trace.  
  
--- (Shinobu's Diary continues…)  
  
…and there it was, I just let him leave for who knows how long, and there's no way to contact him or anything! There are so many things that I wish I knew: What kind of spells are he doing? How powerful could they be that would make him fear for our safety? Why couldn't he have taken me along? I've been practicing magic with him for a long time and I could have helped him. I don't know how long I can hold out without him being here with me… no, I have to be strong. I know Sean would not want to see me cry, no matter what. Besides, he'll come back eventually, so we will be together again. I just have to keep my mind off him until then; but I don't know if I can.  
  
---  
  
"Shinobu?"  
  
"Come in." The door opened and Kitsune walked in.  
  
"How are you feeling?"  
  
"I've felt better."  
  
"It can be hard, I know, but I think I have something that will cheer you up."  
  
"What?" Kitsune moved her hands from behind her back to reveal a letter. Shinobu gasped when she saw that it was made out to her. "Is it from Sean?!"  
  
"I can't say for sure; there's no return address." Kitsune placed the letter in Shinobu's trembling hands. "Do you want me to leave?" Shinobu nodded. "Alright."  
  
As soon as Kitsune left and closed the door behind her, Shinobu opened the envelope and read the contents:  
  
---  
  
Shinobu,  
  
Yes, Shinobu, It's me, Sean. I hope you are doing alright without me. I just wanted to tell you that I have found the perfect place to work and I'm making good progress in my project. I will not tell you where I am so you will not try to find me; I'm trying to keep your safety in mind. I know you want me to be there, but if I hope to complete this, I must be free of all distractions. You have no idea how hard that is though, for you all are in my thoughts every day; tell them that for me. I still don't know how long it will be until I return, but what I do know is that I will come back, so don't worry. I hate to see you sad; you know that.  
  
XXOO, Sean  
  
---  
  
Shinobu held the letter close to her. "I love him so much. I must follow his example and improve myself so I can impress him when he gets back." Determined, she left her room to face the world.  
  
--- 10:21 PM  
  
Keitaro sat at the table in his room reading one of Sean's books; a Magic: the Gathering novel titled "Invasion." "I'm beginning to understand why he's so into all that hocus pocus…" His thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." He was surprised to see Shinobu walk in wearing her nightgown. "Uh, may I help you?"  
  
Shinobu seemed slightly nervous about what she was about to say, but she had noticeably greater confidence that day, and that gave her the courage to speak. "Could I ask a favor of you?"  
  
"Sure, what do you want?"  
  
"May I sleep in here tonight?"  
  
Keitaro was stunned. "Um, well…"  
  
"It's alright if you don't want me to--"  
  
"No, it's not that, I just wasn't expecting such an odd request. I guess it's okay with me. I suppose I could sleep out on the couch tonight."  
  
"No, you can stay."  
  
"But what will Naru think if she sees you in here?"  
  
"If I see what?" Naru said as she opened the trap door. She saw Shinobu below her and she started to see red. "What are you doing to her?" She said as she jumped down, ready to knock Keitaro's lights out.  
  
Keitaro started his usual apologetic rant before he noticed Shinobu move between himself and the charging redhead.  
  
Naru saw this also and stopped her advance. "Why are you protecting that pervert?"  
  
"Because he hasn't done anything, Naru." Shinobu put emphasis on that last word.  
  
"Then why are you in here?"  
  
Keitaro decided to speak up. "She asked if she could sleep in here tonight."  
  
Naru looked confused. "Why do you want to do that?"  
  
Shinobu blushed. "You know that I've missed Sean very much since he left."  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Well, I figured that maybe if I slept in his bed, it might help."  
  
"Aren't you worried Keitaro might try something?"  
  
"Hey, I take offense to that!" Keitaro said.  
  
"Naru, you know as well as I do that he would never do anything like that; at least not on purpose. Besides, he offered to sleep in the living room, but I said it was alright for him to stay here."  
  
"But I just can't take the chance. Keitaro, you're sleeping with me tonight."  
  
"What?!" Keitaro was shocked; and why not? The sleeping arrangements were being turned on its ear. Oh yeah, also the fact that Naru just told him he was sleeping in the same room as her that night.  
  
"You don't have to, Naru," Shinobu said. "Besides, wouldn't you be worried about him doing anything to you?"  
  
"I can handle him just fine, thank you. Now get up there." She motioned for Keitaro to climb up the trapdoor.  
  
"Ladies first."  
  
"Oh, no. I'm not going to fall for that one. Just go before I throw you up myself."  
  
Keitaro semi-reluctantly climbed up to Naru's room, with her following behind him. "I'm going to keep an eye on you, so watch it."  
  
"Yes, Naru." Keitaro said, submitting to Naru's will.  
  
"Don't be too loud up there, you two!" Shionobu said playfully as Naru started to close the door.  
  
"We're not like that," Naru said adamantly as she shut the portal with a bit more force than necessary.  
  
"Are those two the only ones who don't know what's going on?" Shinobu thought as she got into Sean's futon and drifted peacefully to sleep.  
  
--- (Meanwhile…)  
  
"I hope Shinobu got the letter," Sean thought as he worked long into the night. He had found an abandoned temple a few miles out of town and decided it would be a good place to work. Strewn about all around him were papers with scribbles on them; some of them had scribbles on top of scribbles. "I hope this won't take too much longer; upsetting the girls is really something I don't enjoy doing and I want to get back to them as soon as I can, but I can't rush this." He sighed and continued his efforts.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XVI * * *  
  
I know what you might be thinking: that things might get a bit boring with me out of the way. Trust me, with what I have planned, things should get very interesting. Please R&R! See you next time! 


	18. Ch17: A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina.  
  
Sorry for keeping you waiting, but having 4 tests, 4 quizes and both an English essay and an Excel project due in the span of a week, it doesn't leave too much time to write. Anyway, I finally got this done. I hope you like the direction this goes.  
  
* * * Chapter XVII: A New Beginning * * *  
  
Monday, 10/1 1:26 PM  
  
Haruka sat at one of the tables of her then empty tea shop, sipping a bit of the merchandise. Business had usually been slow at this time of day, since most people were at either school or work. A while back, some of the girls told her that Sean had taken a temporary leave of absence, and she couldn't help but wonder why, as none of them gave any details. "There's something they don't want me to know," she muttered to herself. "I'll have to get to the bottom of it pretty soon." Nobody had told her about Sean's abilities yet.  
  
Her musings were interrupted when she saw a girl walk past the door. She looked like a American girl in her late teens, wearing a yellow blouse and blue jeans and carrying a couple of suitcases with her. Intrigued, Haruka walked out to meet her. "Hello."  
  
The girl turned her head in Haruka's direction, her long blonde hair twirling about, partially covering her face. She set the suitcases down and brushed the strands out of her line of sight. "Uh, hi."  
  
"Who might you be?"  
  
The girl raised an eyebrow. "Just someone looking for a place to stay." She gestured to the building up the steps.  
  
"Well, I can see that. How about a name?"  
  
"And why might I tell you?"  
  
Haruka was a bit annoyed. "Because Hinata-Sou has been in my family for many years and we'll be seeing more of each other in the future. You're name, if you please."  
  
"You first."  
  
"Urashima Haruka."  
  
"Alicia Dove."  
  
"Nice to meet you." Haruka hid the bit of sarcasm in her voice.  
  
"You too; sorry for being a bit of an upstart, but I just don't trust those I don't know."  
  
"Understandable."  
  
"I guess I'll see you later then," Alicia lifted her luggage, and seemed to struggle a bit in doing so.  
  
"Here, let me help you with those." Haruka grabbed a suitcase out of her hand; it was surprisingly heavy.  
  
"Thank you. I'm not really built for this sort of thing. It would be pretty tough to lug these things up all those steps by myself." Haruka and Alicia then started up the steps.  
  
---  
  
Kitsune wandered around Hinata House, drinking some sake. "I… am so… fucking… BORED!!! I never thought I would miss Sean this much. When he left, I lost my favorite target. It's just not the same messing with the others, especially Keitaro. He caves in so easily, there's just no fun in it. At least Sean provided a challenge; he always had a strong will and it would take me great lengths to get to him, but when I do, it's always worth the effort. SEAN, YOU MAGNIFICENT BASTARD! I WANT YOU BACK!!"  
  
"Is that right?"  
  
"Wha--" Kitsune turned to find Haruka in the entryway behind her, accompanied by a girl she had never seen before. "Oh, hey Haruka. Who's that?"  
  
"This is Alicia, your new roommate. Alicia, this is Mitsune."  
  
"Hello, Mitsune."  
  
"Hey, Alicia. Call me Kitsune; everyone else does."  
  
"Alright. Haruka, thank you for helping me with my things. I think I can handle them from here."  
  
"Alright. Kitsune will show you to your room." Haruka turned to Kitsune. "That room on the second floor is still empty, right?"  
  
"Yeah, I know the one."  
  
"Okay, then. I have to get back to the shop now. See you later."  
  
"See you, Haruka," Alicia said. "and thanks again."  
  
"Anytime."  
  
"I guess I should help you unpack," Kitsune said, reaching for one of Alicia's bags. "Holy shit, how much do you have in here?! Ever think about traveling light?"  
  
"Well, this isn't exactly a vacation."  
  
"Right, right. I'll show you to where you'll be staying. Follow me."  
  
Alicia's room was located on the second floor, next to the landlord's room. "Well, here it is; home sweet home. Where should I put the suitcase?"  
  
"Just put it anywhere. I don't plan on messing with these stupid things for a while. Besides, I'm getting pretty hungry."  
  
"Me too. I'm going to give you the grand tour of this place, starting with the kitchen."  
  
After getting something to eat, Kitsune showed Alicia around, presenting her with the locations of the bathroom, living room, dining room, steps to the roof, and so on.  
  
"…And last but not least, one of my favorite places here:" Kitsune opened the door and Alicia stared in wonder. "The hot spring."  
  
"You mean you all bathe together?"  
  
"Sometimes. We come here not only to wash, but to relax, to talk, or to do whatever."  
  
"Oh. I guess I'll pay this place a visit after I get unpacked later on. Carrying those heavy suitcases has made me a bit tense, but it's nothing that can't wait a while."  
  
"Well, that's it for the tour. What do you want to do now?"  
  
"I don't know. How about a game of cards?"  
  
"It's better than nothing, I guess."  
  
--- 2:09 PM  
  
Keitaro, Naru and Mutsumi opened the front door and heard two voices; one they recognized, one they didn't.  
  
"I'll take three cards," the mystery voice said.  
  
"Okay, I'll have two," Kitsune responded. "What have you got?"  
  
"Two pair."  
  
"Flush!" Kitsune said triumphantly; a bit too much so for comfort.  
  
"Do I have to do this?"  
  
"You knew the rules when you agreed to it."  
  
"What's going on?" Naru asked as the three of them entered the living room to see a startling sight. Kitsune was sitting on the couch, her legs propped up on the table, watching something with great interest. She was in her bra and underwear. The subject of her gaze was standing a few feet in front of her, completely naked. She held her panties in her hand, which had apparently been removed from her body moments before.  
  
When Alicia heard Naru's voice, time slowed down. She moved her head in the direction of the sound to see three people standing there, but one in particular caught her attention. Time snapped back to normal when she screamed and hid behind the far side of the sofa.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yes, there's something wrong! Three complete strangers just saw me naked!! And why is one of them a guy?!"  
  
"Oh my," Mutsumi said. "What horrible timing we have, huh?"  
  
"That's putting it lightly," Alicia added. "Could someone hand me my clothes, please? God, this is humiliating."  
  
"Of course," Naru said as she gathered the newcomer's discarded clothing and handed them to her, making sure to keep her bare body out of her line of sight.  
  
"Thank you," Alicia said, then bolted out of the room, her garments held tightly in her arms.  
  
"Uh, who was that, Kitsune?" Keitaro asked after he regained his composure, not to mention stifle his sudden nosebleed.  
  
"The newest member of our little family, that's all." Kitsune replied, her usual grin on her face. She made no effort whatsoever to get dressed.  
  
Keitaro sighed. "I guess I should go talk to her; being the acting landlord, it's my responsibility."  
  
"Oh, no," Naru said. "You're not going anywhere. I won't let you try any of your perverted antics on her."  
  
"Well then, go with me, cuz I'm having a talk with her whether you want me to or not." Keitaro started to walk out, but stopped short. "Um, which room is hers?"  
  
"That empty one next to yours," Kitsune said.  
  
"Thanks." Keitaro left for the stairs with Naru following shortly afterwards.  
  
"To think I almost made this day a write-off," Kitsune said.  
  
---  
  
Alicia walked into her room, closed the door and immediately threw her clothes angrily against the wall. "I don't believe this. I've been here less than an hour and I've already been put on display. I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea after all."  
  
Suddenly, she heard a knock at the door. "Who is it?"  
  
"Is just me," a male voice said.  
  
"What do you want? You want to see me naked again?"  
  
"No no, I just want to talk to you. Are you decent?"  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"I'll keep the door closed, then."  
  
"What do you walk to say to me?"  
  
"I just wanted to apologize for what just happened. It was completely inappropriate and I hope you can forgive me."  
  
There was silence for a moment. "Don't worry about it. You didn't know I was there until you showed up. Besides, it was my own fault for letting Kitsune talk me into playing strip poker in the living room in the first place."  
  
"To be completely honest, the experience was a bit refreshing."  
  
Alicia was confused by that statement. "What do you mean?"  
  
"In the past, whenever things like that happen--and it happens quite often--I get beaten up soon afterwards."  
  
"What exactly happens to provoke such attacks?"  
  
"Him being such a pervert, that's why!" A somewhat distant voice said.  
  
"Naru, please. I'm always accidentally finding them in the hot spring or tripping and landing in places I shouldn't."  
  
"Ah, so you're just some unlucky klutz."  
  
"To say I'm accident-prone doesn't do me justice, I'm afraid."  
  
The door opened and Keitaro saw Alicia standing there in a light pink, spaghetti-strapped dress. "Alright, I'm dressed now. Let's talk face to face." She poked her head out to find Naru standing there; she didn't look pleasant. "Alone." She grabbed Keitaro by the shirt and dragged him in, shutting the door quickly afterward.  
  
Naru was surprised by this action. "I hope she knows what she's doing."  
  
When Keitaro got his bearings back he noticed that the new tenant's room was quite plain, but he could understand why, since she had just moved in and the room had gone unused for who knows how long. "We'll have to brighten this place up a bit later on," he commented. As he scanned the room, he saw the clothes she had lost in her card game piled up against the wall, underwear included. Fortunately, Alicia's voice reached his ears before certain thoughts could make themselves known.  
  
"So why are you here?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense for a guy to be living in a girls' dorm."  
  
"Well, I'm the acting landlord right now, so I have that obligation."  
  
"'Acting landlord?'"  
  
"Yeah. The regular manager has taken some… time off and he has left his duties to me for the time being."  
  
"You mean there's another guy living here?"  
  
"That's right."  
  
"How can the other girls stand it?"  
  
"It's easier than you think. When I'm not involved in incidents, I'm actually a very nice guy. Oh, by the way, my name's Urashima Keitaro."  
  
"Alicia Dove." The two shook hands. "You want to help me unpack?"  
  
"Sure!" Keitaro said, eager to get on her good side. He quickly walked to Alicia's bags, not realizing he was still holding her hand until it was too late. When he got to the limit of his reach, his advance was halted, jerking him around, pulling Alicia toward him in the process. The two collided into each other and fell to the floor, Alicia landing on top of him. Both of them were dazed to the point that neither were aware of where Keitaro's hands ended up.  
  
Alicia was the first to regain rational thought, and the first thing she noticed was the landlord's hands holding her breasts. She started to blush; not at the action itself, but how it felt. "Um, Keitaro…"  
  
This snapped Keitaro out of his stupor. Realizing what he was doing, he immediately let go. "I'm sorry," he said, hoping his good luck in escaping without injury would continue. "I didn't mean to--"  
  
"Don't. I know you didn't do it on purpose, but I can see how the others could see it as being perverted. Honestly, I don't see what's wrong with it as long as it's truly accidental."  
  
"Well, that's your opinion. There are a couple girls here that take grave offense to these things, and also the reason why I get hit so often."  
  
"Are they always accidents?" Alicia said, getting up.  
  
"Yes, but they think it happens too often for it to be that way." Keitaro grabbed Alicia's outstretched hand and she helped him to his feet. Afterwards, he made sure to let go.  
  
"If you are beaten up so often, then why don't I see any bruises?"  
  
"I tend to heal very quickly; it's been a blessing I've come to be very grateful for, since I probably wouldn't have lasted this long if I didn't."  
  
Alicia placed a hand on Keitaro's cheek. "You poor thing. Did the other landlord have to go through the same thing?"  
  
"He used to, but he takes steps to prevent it. Also, he isn't nearly as clumsy as I am, so accidents are rare, if they happen at all. I'm glad for it, because he isn't as… well, let's just say that he can't take a punch as well as I can."  
  
"So I won't have to worry about him, then," Alicia said. "Just you."  
  
"You don't have to. I've gotten used to it by now."  
  
"But that shouldn't happen; it's not healthy for someone to take so much abuse."  
  
"There's nothing I can do. Sean wasn't able to help, so what makes you think you can?"  
  
"Sean?"  
  
"That's the manager's--our friend's--name."  
  
"Oh. I don't know if I can do anything, but I'll certainly give it a try. In the meantime, I think you should go."  
  
"What about me helping you unpack?"  
  
"I can handle that myself. But I have to think of some good excuse for you to leave…" Alicia thought it over for a bit, then snapped her fingers. "Got it. I apologize in advance for what I'm going to do, but I mean nothing by it. I hope you understand."  
  
"Um, sure, but what exactly are you going to…" His words got stuck in his throat as he saw her hand grasp his.  
  
"We have to make it look like another one of your mishaps--that won't be too hard considering it actually happened. Just act as you normally do." She saw Keitaro blush as she raised his hand towards her.  
  
---  
  
Naru stood by the door, waiting for Keitaro to leave. She was starting to be surprised at how silent it was on the inside and was just about to head off to her room when she heard a loud scream.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"  
  
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to--"  
  
"Yeah, right. That girl out there was right; you're just a no good pervert!"  
  
"But it was an accident!"  
  
"Like I'm going to believe you!" The door opened and Keitaro was forced out. "I would think twice before trying a stunt like that again if I were you!" Alicia slammed the door shut.  
  
"What did you do this time?" Naru asked. As if she needed to ask.  
  
---  
  
"Things like that shouldn't happen to such a cute guy," Alicia thought as she started to unpack her clothes and put them in the dresser and closet.  
  
--- 6:33 PM  
  
Shinobu walked toward a certain room. She had heard of the new girl's arrival, but had not seen her yet. "I wonder what she looks like," she muttered to herself. Nervously, she knocked on the door.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Um, I just wanted to tell you dinner's ready."  
  
"Thank you." Moments later, the door opened and Alicia stepped out.  
  
"Oh my," Shinobu thought. "She's as pretty as the others…" Her thoughts started to trail off.  
  
Alicia noticed a bit of sadness on Shinobu's young face. "Is something wrong?"  
  
Shinobu continued to look at her. "I wish I was pretty like you."  
  
"Who told you you weren't?"  
  
"Nobody, it just that…" Shinobu looked at her own less-than-developed figure.  
  
"Is that all?" Alicia was relieved to find her new friend's problems were superficial. "Trust me, you look just fine that way you are right now, and it should only improve with age. Besides, growing old isn't all it's cracked up to be. The things us girls have to go through I wouldn't wish on anyone. I wish I was young like you again, with hardly a care in the world."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. If I could relive my childhood years again, I would. Take advantage of your youth while you can; you won't get a second chance."  
  
That seemed to cheer Shinobu up. "Thank you."  
  
"I know how it feels to be jealous like that. I've met Kitsune."  
  
"Maybe when you get to be her age, you'll look like her, too."  
  
"How old is she?"  
  
"18."  
  
Alicia snorted. "So am I."  
  
Shinobu was surprised. Alicia looked no older than Naru; she was a couple inches shorter than her and had about the same bust size. "You don't look 18."  
  
Alicia rolled her eyes. "I know. I must have a late development schedule or something. Oh well, I'll just have to make the best of the cards I've been dealt, just like you have to." As an afterthought, she added, "I never caught your name."  
  
"It's Shinobu."  
  
"Nice to meet you. I'm Alicia."  
  
The two were walking and talking at the same time, and they suddenly found themselves nearing the dining room. "I guess it's time I met everyone else."  
  
"Who do you know already?"  
  
"Kitsune and Keitaro; I've seen a couple others, but I don't know their names."  
  
When they entered the dining room, all conversations ended and everyone's attention was drawn to the newcomer.  
  
"Um, hi everyone," Alicia said nervously.  
  
"Hi, Alicia," everyone at the table responded.  
  
Alicia took a seat at the table. She noticed the girl next to her had a sword at her side.  
  
Keitaro noticed Alicia's worried expression. "Don't worry. She only uses that thing on me."  
  
A look of shock washed over Alicia's face. "What?! She attacks you with that?!"  
  
"Only when he's being perverted," the swordswoman said.  
  
Alicia cringed at the thought of Keitaro being sliced in half.  
  
"I told you I heal quickly," Keitaro said.  
  
Alicia looked at him wide-eyed. "Now I believe it."  
  
Dinner went by very peacefully, with everyone introducing themselves and their place in Hinata House: Motoko, swordswoman and member of the Pervert Elimination Team; Suu, machine-crazy foreigner; Kitsune, all-around party girl; Naru, Tokyo U student and other member of P.E.T.; Keitaro, Tokyo U student, interim co-landlord and eternal victim of P.E.T.; Mutsumi, Tokyo U student, and kind-hearted airhead; Shinobu, interim co-landlord and resident cook.  
  
"I guess it's time I told you about myself," Alicia said after everyone else had their turn. "My name is Alicia Dove, I'm 18 years old, and have been living in Japan for about 4 years. Before that, I lived in southern California. As part of some sick and twisted joke, my parents decided to move here."  
  
"What do you mean 'sick and twisted'?" Shinobu asked. "Don't you like it here?"  
  
"It's not that I don't like it, it's just the darn school system here. Do you have any idea what it's like to go to high school and be two years older than everyone in your class? It made me feel stupid. Thank God I graduated last year, cause I probably couldn't stand it for much longer."  
  
"Do you plan on going to college?" Naru asked.  
  
"Heck no. I'm done with school for good."  
  
"Amen to that," Kitsune said, raising her glass.  
  
"That reminds me; Kitsune could I ask you something?"  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"When I first walked in the door, I heard you screaming something about wanting Sean back. Is he your boyfriend or something?"  
  
"Actually, he's my boyfriend." Alicia was shocked by who said it.  
  
"Shinobu, how did--"  
  
"It's a long story."  
  
"And to think you're jealous about how the others look, when you've already got a man. Uh, how old is he, anyway."  
  
"He's 22."  
  
"My. He can't be the good guy I've heard him to be if he's going out with someone half his age."  
  
"He is a nice guy. He doesn't do anything perverted to me; he's willing to wait until I'm the right age to do anything--"  
  
"But he still has those certain urges," Kitsune interrupted. "That's where I come in."  
  
"Something tells me I don't want to know more, so I'll just stop you right there," Alicia said. By that time everyone had just about finished eating. "Thank you for the delicious meal. I'll be in my room for a little while longer if anyone wants me."  
  
"You mean you haven't finished unpacking yet?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Well, you know how heavy my bags were. Besides, I'm just about done; just a few finishing touches is all." Alicia bowed and left for the kitchen, taking her dishes with her.  
  
"Well, she sounds nice," Suu said.  
  
"Yeah, I agree," Mutsumi added. "Is something wrong, Motoko?"  
  
The swordswoman had a slight look of confusion about her. "I don't know. There's just something about her that's doesn't seem right, but I can't put my finger on it."  
  
"It's probably nothing," Keitaro said.  
  
"Maybe you're right." Motoko said, "But I just can't shake the feeling that there's something more to her than meets the eye," she thought.  
  
--- 7:02 PM  
  
"Well, moving in took longer than I thought it would, but I'm glad it's done," Alicia said as she surveyed her new room. "I hope I won't have to do something like that ever again." Her muscles were a bit sore, so she decided to take a trip to the hot springs.  
  
After she changed into a towel, she opened the door to the spring to find the other girls there--all of them. "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know there was anyone else out here." She had been so consumed by her thoughts that she failed to notice the other piles of clothes in the changing room.  
  
"Don't worry about it, come on out," Naru said as Alicia started to close the door.  
  
"It's just that I'm not used to bathing in front of others." Alicia said as she stepped slowly towards the water, holding her towel close to her and a blush on her face.  
  
"You'll get more comfortable after a while."  
  
"What brought you to Hinata-Sou, Alicia?" Motoko asked.  
  
Alicia stepped into the water and sat down before she responded. "Well, after I graduated from high school, I started to slack off. My parents finally got sick and tired of it, so they kicked me out. I heard about this place and figured it was as good a place as any to crash until I got my life on track. I hope I haven't inconvenienced you or anything."  
  
"Actually, since Sean left, things were starting to get quite tedious," Kitsune said. "I'm glad you showed up."  
  
"I've heard about this 'Sean' character a few times. What kind of guy is he, exactly?"  
  
"Oh, he's just the best," Shinobu chimed in. "You have no idea how much he does for us."  
  
"Yes," Motoko agreed. "He is always willing to listen to our problems and tries to keep us happy at all times; one way or another." She blushed a bit after that last part.  
  
"Do you mean he--"  
  
"He'll please us from time to time," Kitsune said. "But he's determined to save himself for Shinobu."  
  
"Yeah, you mentioned that earlier. It's amazing; I never heard of a guy willing to hold himself back like that for so long."  
  
"Well, Sean isn't your normal guy. How about you? Have you ever had a boyfriend?"  
  
"A few, but I always seem to pick the wrong ones. Every one of them ended up cheating on me. There's one in particular that stands out in my mind; it was guy that I was going out with for a couple months. I thought everything was going fine until I found him making out with another girl."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"I did what any self-respecting girl would have done; I kicked his ass."  
  
"Funny," Motoko said, "you don't look like someone who's prone to violence."  
  
"I'm not, but there are those few things that can get you to do almost anything, you know?"  
  
"Do you ever think you'll find your one true love?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I don't know. I've been disappointed so many times, I'm thinking I might just quit trying to find the right guy."  
  
"Don't do that. I'm sure there's someone out there that's right for you."  
  
"Maybe." Alicia closed her eyes as the water relaxed her muscles, along with the rest of her. After a few moments, she started to lean towards Motoko, much to her surprise.  
  
"What's up with her?" Naru asked, curious about Alicia's odd behavior.  
  
Motoko caught Alicia in her arms. "I think she's asleep." Sure enough, light snoring could be heard. "Today must have taken a lot out of her."  
  
"Considering how much stuff she brought with her, I'm not surprised," Kitsune said.  
  
"I guess we should get her to bed," Naru suggested.  
  
"I'll take care if it," Shinobu said, getting up and walking to the changing room. She returned minutes later fully clothed and carrying Alicia's clothes with her. "I'll see you in a bit." She rested a hand on her shoulder and both Shinobu and Alicia vanished.  
  
--- 9:42 PM  
  
"Wh-Where am I?" Alicia asked herself as she woke up.  
  
"You're in your room," Kitsune said.  
  
Alicia sat up with a start. "How did--"  
  
"You fell asleep in the hot spring; we brought you up here."  
  
"I guess that place is more relaxing than I thought."  
  
"Seems that way. Are you up for doing anything tonight?"  
  
"Nah, I think I'll just get some sleep. It's been a rough day for me."  
  
"I know. See you tomorrow, then." Kitsune started toward the door.  
  
"Uh, Kitsune, could I ask you a favor?"  
  
"Anything."  
  
"Next time you want to play cards, could we not do it in the living room, please?"  
  
Kitsune laughed. "Sure thing. Goodnight, Alicia."  
  
"'Night." Kitsune left, closing the door behind her, and Alicia laid back down on her bed, drifting off to sleep.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XVII * * *  
  
There you have it. It may not be all that much, but that's what happens when you bring in someone completely new. In case you're wondering, I plan on reintroducing myself in Chapter 19. (yes, I've thought things out that far ahead) Tell me what you think of what I've done. See you later! 


	19. Ch18: RunIns and Rendezvous

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Alicia is mine.  
  
Well, let's see what crazyness I can think of this time around.  
  
* * * Chapter XVIII: Run-Ins and Rendezvous * * *  
  
Tuesday, 10/2 7:22 AM  
  
"That was the best sleep I've had in a long time," Alicia said to herself as she changed out of the towel she still had on from the previous night. Oh man, last night. The events of that day--the good and the bad--were still fresh in her mind. "I wonder if it's that exciting everyday." Her question was quickly answered when she heard a scream coming from the other side of the wall. Without a second thought, she left her room and opened the door to Keitaro's to find him laid out on the floor; there was a nasty looking bump on his head. "What just happened?"  
  
"He tried to peek at me, that's what!" Naru said from above.  
  
"If you're so concerned about him seeing you, why don't you just switch rooms?"  
  
"Because I was here first! Why should I move just because he shows up?"  
  
"She's so juvenile," she thought, shaking her head. "Are you alright, Keitaro?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Keitaro said as he grabbed Alicia's outstretched hand.  
  
As she helped him up, Alicia noticed that the lump on Keitaro's head had vanished completely. This momentary distraction caused her to be completely unaware of just how hard she was pulling.  
  
"Thank you," Keitaro said when he was upright, but the momentum continued, causing him to fall forward. Without thinking, he reached out to try to grab something--anything that might break his fall. And he did.  
  
Alicia was brought back to earth when she felt Keitaro grab her left breast and hold on tight. This action did little to halt his descent however, and she was forced down onto her knees. She was taken completely by surprise by this, and where Keitaro's head ended up--or rather, his face ended up--didn't help matters.  
  
Naru saw the entire spectacle from her room. To say she was angry would be like saying Motoko was sorta good in kendo. She jumped down, snatched Keitaro's head away from Alicia's crotch and held him against the wall. "You fucking pervert! You just can't stop doing this crap, can you?!"  
  
"I'm sorry, Naru, I didn't mean to, honest!"  
  
"Yeah, right! You've been nothing but a sick pervert ever since you showed up!"  
  
"Uh, Naru…?"  
  
"Really, I never mean to do those things!!"  
  
"Enough talk. This time, I won't be so easy on you."  
  
"Naru…"  
  
"Please, just let me explain--"  
  
"No! I've had it with your lame-ass excuses! I'm going to beat you so hard--"  
  
"NARU!!" Both Keitaro and Naru turned to face Alicia, who was still kneeling where the latest incident occurred.  
  
"What?!" Naru asked, still just a tad furious.  
  
"It wasn't his fault."  
  
"What are you protecting him for? Of course it was his fault; it's always his fault!"  
  
"No, it's not!" Alicia's forceful tone took Naru by surprise. "It was all my fault. I pulled his arm too hard, and that's why he fell on…" She blushed. "…me."  
  
"If you say so." Naru turned to Keitaro. "You got lucky this time, but you had better watch yourself." She stormed out before Keitaro could respond.  
  
"Um, I guess I should thank you for saving me back there," Keitaro said. He noticed that Alicia still hadn't moved, and her blush hadn't faded, either. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Oh, nothing serious. I was just thinking about what you did just now and--"  
  
"Oh." Keitaro nervously held the back of his neck. "About that--"  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not mad at you or anything. You were just grabbing at straws--or at least grabbing at something."  
  
Keitaro chuckled a blushed a bit himself. "Thank goodness. I certainly don't need another girl after my hide."  
  
"Yeah." Alicia started to get up. "I guess I should go before something else happens that threatens your life, huh?"  
  
"Good idea." Keitaro watched Alicia leave. "Wow, she's so understanding."  
  
Alicia walked to the kitchen, various thoughts running through her mind. When she got there, she found Shinobu making breakfast.  
  
"Hello, Alicia. Did you sleep well?"  
  
"Yes, thank you. Hey, could I ask you something?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Why does Naru treat Keitaro so badly? I mean, I know that his mishaps could be misinterpreted, but still, does she have to assume he does it on purpose every time?"  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"Well, I was just involved in an… incident a minute ago and Naru would have killed the guy if I hadn't stepped in. It wasn't even his fault."  
  
"I don't know why she does it, exactly. She always jumps to conclusions without thinking things through first. Back when Sean was the new guy, he always got beat up, even though he almost never actually did anything to deserve it."  
  
"How did he end the beatings?"  
  
"I guess Naru eventually realized how hard he tries not to peek at us or try anything, so she stopped being so judgmental. Plus, Sean's not as klutzy as Keitaro, so accidents don't happen nearly as often."  
  
"I see."  
  
Shinobu sighed. "I really miss him. He's been gone for so long, you know?"  
  
"Why did he leave, exactly?"  
  
"There was something he needed to do; he didn't give us exact details."  
  
"Hmm…" Alicia thought about possible reasons for Sean to leave.  
  
"It gets hard to bear with him not being here sometimes, but knowing he will return helps me get through each day."  
  
"Wow," Alicia thought. "I never would have thought a girl her age could be so dedicated to someone like that."  
  
"Breakfast's almost ready, Alicia. You should go have a seat."  
  
"Okay." Alicia walked out towards the dining room.  
  
---  
  
Keitaro walked out of his room to find Kitsune smiling at him. "So, what just happened?"  
  
Keitaro looked away from her. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
Kitsune grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look her in the eye. "You can't fool me. I heard that little rant Naru made and I also saw Alicia leave your room. Spill it."  
  
Keitaro blushed. "I don't wanna say."  
  
"Oh come on, you can tell me. I won't tell anyone."  
  
"Now, we both know that's not true."  
  
The smile on the fox's face started to fade. "Tell me." Keitaro was barely able to shake his head since it was still in her grip. "Tell me!"  
  
This time, Keitaro was able to respond in words. "No!" He wrenched himself out of her grasp and ran down the hall.  
  
"You can't run forever, you coward!" Kitsune said as she followed him. "I'm going to prod your mind until you crack!"  
  
Keitaro barely heard what she said as he was too focused on avoiding the inquisition. This also prevented him from slowing down as he went down the stairs. As a result, halfway down, he tripped and went the rest of the way head over heels.  
  
At that moment, a certain blonde-haired girl just happened to walk by. She turned to see Keitaro tumbling towards her at unnerving speed. "What the--" she started to say before he hit her head on, knocking her to the floor. Both of them landed on their backs, with Keitaro on top and each head resting between the other person's legs.  
  
Kitsune neared the bottom of the stairs and saw the peculiar sight before her. "Well, what do we have here?" she muttered to herself.  
  
"Ow, my head," Keitaro thought out loud as he raised his hands to his throbbing skull. Much to his confusion, one of his hands was met with resistance. He glanced over to see what his hand was struggling against, and his eyes grew wide in a combination of shock and horror. His right hand had a tight grip on the waistband of Alicia's skirt, but that wasn't the worst part; his hand was right next to her ankle.  
  
Out of instinct, he immediately got off Alicia, knelt down beside her and began begging for forgiveness, but was interrupted when she placed a hand on his cheek and gave him a look that he couldn't decipher.  
  
"What's going on?" a voice said. Alicia looked to see Kitsune standing near the foot of the stairs, but that wasn't what caught her attention; what did was Motoko joining her. She did the first thing that came to her mind.  
  
Motoko was curious about what Kitsune was looking at and was stunned by what she saw. Instinct kicked in right away as she unsheathed her sword and would have ripped Keitaro a new one if Kitsune hadn't grabbed her by the shirt.  
  
"Why are you stopping me?"  
  
"Look again," Kitsune said.  
  
Motoko glanced back to the scene before her to find that Alicia had brought Keitaro close to her. Alicia's eyes were directed right at her; they seemed to plead for her to be merciful.  
  
"You wouldn't hurt Alicia now, would you?" Kitsune said.  
  
"Of course not," Motoko said, calming down.  
  
"Good. What do you say we take care of this before Naru shows up. I doubt I'd be able to hold her back."  
  
Motoko nodded and they made their way to the two on the floor and helped them to their feet.  
  
"Thanks," Keitaro said, "for not killing me."  
  
"Thank Kitsune; she was the one who stopped me."  
  
"Are you alright, Alicia?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," Alicia responded as she pulled her skirt up to a respectable height. There was a deep blush on her face, and understandably so.  
  
"Breakfast is ready!" Shinobu said from the kitchen. Apparently, she had been unaware of what had just occurred.  
  
Like a shot, Suu appeared down the stairs. "Let's eat!" The others made their way to the table with less enthusiasm.  
  
Breakfast was pretty normal--or at least as normal as things ever get at Hinata-Sou, but Alicia was very uncomfortable. Most of it was caused by her shifting glances at Keitaro every once in a while. She wondered how he, along with Kitsune and Motoko were able to keep a straight face the whole time. When she finished, she hurried out of the room.  
  
"What's up with her?" Suu asked.  
  
"Maybe she still hasn't gotten used to us yet," Kitsune said. "We're not exactly an ordinary group of girls, you know. Don't worry; I'll have a chat with her later." In reality, she had a pretty good idea of what was bothering her, but she didn't want to reveal what happened to those who didn't already know, namely Naru.  
  
"Don't mess with her too much," Shinobu said.  
  
"Why would I do that? I have no reason to."  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
Kitsune rolled her eyes. "Alright, I promise I won't play any tricks on her--for now." With that, she left, taking hers and Alicia's dishes with her.  
  
"I wonder what's wrong with Alicia," Shinobu wondered out loud.  
  
"I saw her looking at Keitaro!" Suu said.  
  
"What did you do now?" Naru asked.  
  
"Nothing!" Keitaro responded. Well, it was true, wasn't it? After all, he had done nothing wrong for about ten minutes.  
  
"Why don't I believe you?"  
  
"Naru," Motoko said, "you know as well as I do that if something did happen, we'd both know it in an instant."  
  
"You're right." Naru got up to get ready for school, but not before grabbing Keitaro by the back of the shirt and dragging him out with her. "But I still don't trust you for a moment, so I'm going to keep an eye on you."  
  
"Lucky me," Keitaro said. Even he couldn't tell if he was being sarcastic or not.  
  
--- 8:48 AM  
  
"See you later, everyone!" Kitsune said from the couch in the living room.  
  
"See you, Kitsune," Everyone else said in their own different ways.  
  
Kitsune noticed that Naru was still leading Keitaro like he was a dog on a leash. She sighed and shook her head. "Will she ever get over that guy's behavior? Oh well, time to check up on Alicia." She got up and walked upstairs to find Alicia leaving her room. "Ah, I was just looking for you."  
  
"And why is that?"  
  
"I just wanted to find out what's up."  
  
"Oh. I was just going to have a talk with you about that."  
  
"Did you have a place in mind?"  
  
"Come to think of it, I do."  
  
---  
  
The two reconvened in the hot spring.  
  
"So," Kitsune started, "what did you want to tell me?"  
  
"You know about that little incident earlier, right?"  
  
"How could I forget?"  
  
"Well, it wasn't the first time Keitaro and I have… crossed paths."  
  
"I thought not. How many accidents have there been?"  
  
"Three."  
  
Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "Today?"  
  
"No, one of them happened yesterday."  
  
"Ah. So what exactly are you getting at?"  
  
"Well, apparently, when things like that happen to Naru, she rages."  
  
"Yeah, and?"  
  
"When it happened to me, I have a somewhat… different reaction."  
  
"Are you saying--"  
  
"I'm saying that Keitaro has made me horny as hell."  
  
"And what do you expect me to do?"  
  
"I just needed someone to talk to. I'm not exactly used to this sort of thing."  
  
"Didn't you say that you've had boyfriends before?"  
  
"Yes, but I was never aroused by any of them like this. I admit that my taste in men hasn't been all that good in the past."  
  
"Well, I know for a fact that Keitaro's a good guy, so that should not be a concern."  
  
"True, but Naru seems to have a tight grip on him."  
  
Kitsune rolled her eyes. "Yeah, literally. I don't think a relationship like that will be necessary. You just need to be pleased by him. I should know; I'm the same way with Sean."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yes. I may have his body, but his heart belongs to Shinobu."  
  
"Oh yeah, that was mentioned yesterday. How should I go about it with Keitaro?"  
  
Kitsune's trademark grin appeared. "I think I have an idea…"  
  
--- 2:13 PM  
  
"Alright, they're coming," Alicia said, peeking out the front door.  
  
"Good," Kitsune said, sitting on the couch. "You know the plan." Alicia nodded and rushed upstairs.  
  
"Here goes nothing," Kitsune thought as she heard the door open and saw Naru and Keitaro walk into the living room. "Oh thank God you finally got back!"  
  
The two--who looked like they were on more friendly terms since they left--noticed that Kitsune appeared a bit out of sorts. "What's wrong? What happened?" Naru asked.  
  
"Alicia wants to see you, Keitaro," Kitsune said in all seriousness. "Now."  
  
Keitaro was starting to be concerned about Kitsune's expression; he had never seen her so scared before. "Why does she want to see me?"  
  
"Payback."  
  
"What did you do now?" Naru asked, glaring at Keitaro.  
  
"I think you know that already," Kitsune said before he could reply.  
  
"She didn't seem bothered by it before," Keitaro said.  
  
"Yeah, she seemed so against me hitting him," Naru added.  
  
"It was an act, I can assure you of that."  
  
"I'll go with you," Naru said, starting to smile. "Get a few licks in, perhaps."  
  
"NO!" Both Naru and Keitaro looked surprised. "She wants to see him alone. She was very specific about that, and I don't think disobeying her would be a smart thing to do right now."  
  
Keitaro was getting scared at what Alicia might do to him. "Uh, maybe I should hide out somewhere until this blows over."  
  
"No. She probably already knows you're here, and if she starts looking for you, there's going to be hell to pay."  
  
Keitaro gulped. "I guess I have no choice." He started to walk toward the stairs.  
  
"I hope I see you again," Kitsune added.  
  
Keitaro's paused as his pace turned pale.  
  
"GO!!"  
  
Keitaro ran upstairs with a start.  
  
Naru sat down in a chair. "What did she do to you?"  
  
Kitsune looked away. "You don't want to know."  
  
"Kitsune, I'm your best friend. You can tell me."  
  
"But she made me promise not to tell anyone."  
  
"She's not around, is she? I won't tell her you told."  
  
"Well… okay, I'll tell you." Kitsune gathered up the courage to speak again. "What happened between Alicia and Keitaro; it did something to her. As soon as y'all left, she started plotting her revenge. I swear, she's more devious than I am."  
  
"You're kidding."  
  
"I wish I was. She demanded that I help her in her plan, but I refused; it was too much, even for me. She wouldn't accept 'no' for an answer. She tortured me in a way I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy."  
  
"What did she do?"  
  
"She started to please me. I know that doesn't sound much like torture--I didn't think so either at first--but after a while, her true intentions were revealed." Kitsune paused. It looked like she was about to crack at any moment.  
  
Naru was getting really concerned at this point. "What could she have done to her?" she thought.  
  
Kitsune was eventually able to continue, but here voice was shaky. "I admit; at first, I was enjoying myself, and why not? I was getting pleased for goodness sake! But after a while, it became apparent that she had no intention to finish me. She just kept me at the brink for I don't know how long. She even went so far as to bind my arms together to keep me from doing it myself." She turned around and revealed that her arms were still tied up by… what was that? A bra?! "She still hasn't let me go, and she doesn't plan to until she gets what she wants."  
  
"What does she want?"  
  
---  
  
"What could she want with me?" Keitaro said to himself as he nervously approached Alicia's room. He raised a shaky hand towards the door and slowly slid it open. Darkness was the only thing that greeted him. "Uh, hello?"  
  
Silence.  
  
He tentatively stepped into the room. After a few feet, he heard a sound coming from behind him. Turning around, he saw the door quickly close. "Alicia?" He was getting really scared at this point. In the total darkness of the room, he could not tell what was going on, what would happen next, or where it would come from.  
  
Suddenly, something touched him--it felt like fingers playing with the hairs that stood up on the back of his neck. "Alicia?!"  
  
"Yes, Keitaro?" Her voice sounded so sweet, he didn't know what to think.  
  
"What's going on?"  
  
"You have no idea what you've done to me, do you?"  
  
"No. Could you please just turn on a light or something?"  
  
"In a bit, but first I want to let you in on something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"When those things happened between us, you have no idea how aroused I got."  
  
"What?!" Keitaro was thoroughly confused.  
  
"That's right. I am so turned on by your little antics."  
  
"Really?" This was different from the usual reaction Keitaro experiences.  
  
"Yes. I want you to touch me some more." Alicia embraced him and held him close.  
  
Keitaro's pulse skyrocketed when he realized that she was completely topless and wasn't wearing her skirt. He mumbled something incoherently.  
  
"What?"  
  
Keitaro cleared his throat. "I couldn't do something like that."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"It's not right. Besides, if Naru should see us--"  
  
"Naru won't be seeing this. Kitsune's keeping her occupied as we speak."  
  
Keitaro didn't know what to do. One side of his brain wanted to stop this before it went too far; that he shouldn't give in to his hormones. Meanwhile, the other side reasoned that she was asked him point blank to please her, and he shouldn't reject a request from one of his tenants, even if leads to something like this.  
  
While the battle went on in his mind, the decision was made for him. Alicia grabbed Keitaro's hand and placed it on her breast. She heard him gasp. "Squeeze it." Slowly, he obliged, making her gasp as well.  
  
"Did I do something wrong?" Keitaro asked, not wishing to spoil the moment.  
  
"No, keep doing it."  
  
Glad that he was doing something right for a change, he continued to knead Alicia's breast, adding his other hand to the mix, working on the other one. More gasps could be heard, along with a moan here and there. "Oh God, this feels nice," he thought.  
  
The feeling was mutual, to say the least. Alicia had never felt like she did right then, and she loved every moment of it. "More," she sighed. Much to her surprise, Keitaro let go of her. "What are you--" she started to say before she was swept off her feet and placed gently on the floor. After this Keitaro continued with a bit more vigor than before.  
  
The reaction Keitaro was getting grew exponentially. He started to wonder until he found the cause; his knee was poking at her crotch. Instinctively, he removed it from her, but much to his surprise, she started to whine again.  
  
"Oh, don't you dare stop that!" Keitaro quickly returned his knee to her privates, much to her delight. "Oh God, keep going!"  
  
---  
  
Back in the living room, faint screaming (faint screaming--does that make any sense at all?) could be heard; and it didn't exactly sound like Keitaro--unless his voice changed in the last few minutes.  
  
"What the hell is going on up there?" Naru asked. She started to look suspiciously at Kitsune. "Somehow, I think you're in on this."  
  
"Whatever do you mean?" Kitsune said, trying to sound innocent.  
  
"Okay, that clinched it. Tell me what's going on."  
  
"I already told you."  
  
Naru got up and started walking toward a nervous Kitsune. "You were never tortured, were you?"  
  
Kitsune looked a bit ashamed, mostly because she was found out. "No."  
  
"And Alicia's not torturing that Keitaro, is she?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Hmm… since Alicia seems to be enjoying herself, I think I should too." Naru smiled mischievously at Kitsune, who was still tied up.  
  
"What are you going to do?"  
  
"I'm going to make you suffer."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Remember how you just told he how Alicia allegedly tormented you?"  
  
Kitsune's eyes grew wide. "You're kidding, right?"  
  
Naru started to unbutton Kitsune blouse. "How often do I kid around?"  
  
"Please, anything but this! Find it in your heart to reconsider!" Kitsune pleaded, but her cries fell on deaf ears.  
  
Before long, more screams rang out over Hinata-Sou, but these were screams of agony from a certain fox.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XVIII * * *  
  
Goodness, that certainly was interesting, wasn't it? For those of you who missed my character, don't despair, for I will be making my grand re-emergence into the story. See you then! Please R&R 


	20. Ch19: Sean's Return

Disclaimer; I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean and Alicia are mine.  
  
Here it is, the moment you've all been waiting for!  
  
* * * Chapter XIX: Sean's Return * * *  
  
Dear Shinobu,  
  
Sorry I haven't been able to contact you in a while; I have been quite busy as of late, what with my experiments and all; you understand. Well, I just wanted to tell you that my research is just about to come to an end--for now, at least. Yes, that means I'll be coming back to you soon. Calm down, Shinobu, I know you're excited, but you still have to wait a bit. I will return on Saturday around ten in the morning. I expect some interesting stories when I do.  
  
See you soon, Sean  
  
--- Saturday, 10/6 9:52 AM  
  
Shinobu ran through the hallway. It looked like she was in a big hurry to get to where she was going. Halfway down the stairs, she found Alicia heading up.  
  
"Hey Shinobu, what's up?"  
  
Shinobu stopped to catch her breath a bit before she responded. "Well, I wanted this to be a surprise, but…" She looked around to see if anyone else was within earshot.  
  
This piqued Alicia's curiosity. "But what?"  
  
"Sean's coming back today. He should be here any minute now."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yeah. Do you want to greet him with me?"  
  
Alicia thought it over for a bit. "As much as I want to meet him, I also know how much you love him, so I'll just leave the two of you alone to catch up. I can always meet him later."  
  
Shinobu nodded. "Thank you." She hurried off in the direction of the lobby to await Sean's arrival. Minutes went by like hours as Shinobu's patience started to wane. "Why won't he get here?" She took a deep breath. "All right, just calm down. I'm starting to get too anxious. I've waited for days, even weeks for him to get back, I can last a few more minutes." She looked at her watch; 9:59. "But still, it's getting around that time. Ooh, I wish he'd just show up already so I don't have to wait any long--" She was interrupted by the turning of a doorknob. She stood breathless as the door slowly opened.  
  
"Hello?" A familiar voice called out. "Is anyone home?"  
  
Shinobu couldn't stand it any longer. She ran over and held Sean close to her as soon as she saw him appear in the doorway. "You're finally back!"  
  
Sean was stunned for a moment by Shinobu's sudden embrace, but quickly recovered and returned the favor. "Yeah, I'm home again."  
  
Shinobu started buried her face in Sean's shirt, crying all the while. "You have no idea how much I've missed you."  
  
"I doubt that."  
  
Shinobu backed off slightly. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Well, I just spent who knows how long out in the middle of nowhere with no human contact--or at least not verbal contact. At least you had the other girls to talk to; I had nobody but myself." Tears started to appear in Sean's eyes. "I wouldn't wish that experience on anyone."  
  
"But that doesn't matter now. All that matters is that you're here with us again."  
  
"That's right."  
  
"What going on?" Naru asked. Upon seeing Sean, she gasped. "Sean…" She stood still for a moment, almost not believing that he was actually there rather than it just being her imagination. After letting reality sink in, she couldn't contain herself. "SEAN!!!" Much to his surprise, Naru starting running away, screaming, "SEAN'S BACK!!" Over and over again.  
  
"Was this place that boring while I was away?" Sean asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Sort of," Shinobu replied.  
  
Naru's voice rang out all over the building and soon, she reappeared, accompanied by a crowd of girls. Sean knew well enough what was about to happen, and he braced for impact. Suu was the first to reach him. She pounced on him, knocking him to the ground. "You're really here!" she cried.  
  
"I missed you too," Sean said. "But there's this issue of me needing to breathe, so if you could--"  
  
"Oh, sorry." Suu got off him right away.  
  
"Thank you," Sean said, brushing himself off and looking over the crowd before him. "So, where's Keitaro?"  
  
"Right here." Keitaro appeared, joining the group.  
  
Sean cringed at the sight of him. "Dear lord, what happened to you?"  
  
"I got trampled over just now."  
  
Sean sighed and shook his head. "I guess not much has changed while I've been gone, huh?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Figures. Nevertheless, I suppose I have a lot of catching up to do, don't I?"  
  
"Don't you know it," Kitsune said. "There have been some… interesting moments."  
  
"Is that so? Well, let's go to the living room and tell me all about it." The whole group set out for the living room.  
  
On the way, Shinobu noticed Sean shake his head. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, I just thought I saw something, that's all."  
  
"Oh."  
  
In reality, Sean could have sworn that Kitsune's shirt disappeared for a moment. "I've been away for too long," he thought. "My mind's starting to play tricks on me."  
  
When everyone was seated, they began to fill Sean in on what happened while he was out, most of which included Alicia, who for some reason wasn't present. "She sounds like a nice girl. Where is she? I'd like to meet her."  
  
"She must be in her room," Shinobu said. "She wanted to give us a chance to catch up before you meet her."  
  
Sean nodded understandingly. "I guess all that serious stuff can wait for now."  
  
As the stories continued, Sean was met with a huge distraction. He couldn't--no, he refused to believe his eyes. As he shifted his gaze to each girl, he saw their clothes start to fade away. "What the hell--" he thought.  
  
Shinobu was the first to notice Sean's uncomfortable state. "There's definitely something wrong," she thought. She got up and approached him. "What's bothering you?"  
  
Sean blushed deeply. "I'm uh… just… you know what, don't worry about it." He gave a weak smile waved his hand, passing it off as nothing. It also passed across his field of vision, hoping it would return everything to normal; it didn't work.  
  
"Aw, c'mon," Kitsune said. "You know you can't keep secrets from us for too long." She closed in on him, flaunting her features in the process. "We always get you to talk one way or another."  
  
In Sean's hallucinatory condition, her actions had a greater effect. "Why do I have to go through all this?" Sean thought. "She delights in making me suffer, I swear."  
  
Naru grabbed Kitsune's shoulder, halting her advance. "Why do you keep tormenting the poor guy? I mean, he just got back, for heaven's sake."  
  
"She right," Motoko added. "Who knows what condition his experiments left him in. We should just let him relax for now."  
  
"Ah, Naru and Motoko," Sean thought, "the voices of reason. They're so considerate, so kind, so… gorgeous…"  
  
"I don't really care how you show your affection for him," Kitsune said, "but this is how I do it." She got out of Naru's grasp and continued her little exhibition, getting right in Sean's face.  
  
Alarms went off in Sean's mind. Instantly, he shut his eyes and turned away.  
  
"He's breathing funny," Suu said moments later from disturbingly close range.  
  
"Will you quit it, already?" Shinobu asked. "Can't you see what you're doing to him?"  
  
"Yes, I can. This is how I can tell; right HERE."  
  
Sean's eyes snapped open when he felt a hand grab his erection through his pants. "Oh, God," he thought. "If I don't escape from this soon, I'm going to explode!" He shot a look at Kitsune that pleaded for her to stop. Unfortunately, Kitsune interpreted Sean's gaze as one of passion; of longing.  
  
"Ah, he's enjoying this after all," she thought. She redoubled her efforts.  
  
"Oh shit," Sean thought. He had to think fast; he knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for much longer.  
  
"A LITTLE HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED!!" he blurted out.  
  
Immediately, a sword appeared close to Kitsune's neck. "Leave him alone," Motoko said.  
  
Kitsune immediately let go, and not a minute too soon. "Alright, alright, no need to be violent about it."  
  
"Thanks, Motoko. If you'll excuse me…" Sean vanished without a trace.  
  
"Why do you do things like that to him all the time?" Naru asked.  
  
Kitsune smiled a bit, despite the weapon still poised against her. "It's fun to see the reaction it gets. Besides, he needs to let loose every once in a while."  
  
"That may be so," Motoko responded, "but forcing it on him is not the way to go about it."  
  
"And what might you suggest I do instead?" Kitsune asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
Motoko blushed. "How should I know? I have no experience in such things."  
  
"Anyway," Naru interjected, "I think we should go find where Sean went off to."  
  
"Agreed," Motoko said.  
  
Each person started off in different directions to find their missing manager, but Naru stopped Shinobu before she could leave. "You should keep an eye on Kitsune, in case she finds him."  
  
"Sure thing."  
  
--- Ten Minutes Later  
  
Motoko opened the door to the roof to find Sean in a meditative position. His expression was one of utter concentration. "So there you are," she said without thinking. "Where did you go?"  
  
"I was downstairs taking a cold shower," Sean answered calmly.  
  
"Mind if I join you for a bit?"  
  
"Only if I may keep my eyes closed."  
  
"Why do you need to do that?" Motoko asked as she sat down a few feet in front of him.  
  
"My being away did more to my mind than I feared. It's playing a cruel trick on my eyes."  
  
"What are you seeing?"  
  
"A more accurate question would be 'what am I not seeing?'"  
  
"I'm not following you."  
  
"Ever since I saw you all again today, your… clothes started to vanish before my very eyes."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"I'm more upset about it than you, no doubt. Keeping my eyes closed is the only way I can think of to prevent it right now."  
  
"So what you're saying is, back in the living room--"  
  
"I saw all of you, and Kitsune didn't help matters any. I don't know what her little show looked like to you, but for me…" Sean shuddered. "It was almost too much to bear. Thanks again for stopping her."  
  
"No problem."  
  
"It's not that I wouldn't normally enjoy what she tries to do, you understand; I just don't like her methods."  
  
"I agree. She seems to take unnecessary steps to get what she wants."  
  
"Yeah. I've experienced that first-hand."  
  
There was a bit of a pause before Motoko spoke again. "I'm glad you're back. Things just weren't the same without you."  
  
"I'm glad I'm back, too. If only my return wasn't spoiled by my perverted mind acting the way it is."  
  
"Are your eyes still--"  
  
"I don't know. That's why I'm keeping my eyes closed; somehow, I don't want to find out. I might end up going back to wearing the blindfold."  
  
"Are you serious?"  
  
"If it will keep me from being perverted, then yes."  
  
"But not seeing us was the cause of the problem to begin with."  
  
"Do you know what you're suggesting?"  
  
"Sean, sometimes your well-being is more important than worrying about our modesty."  
  
"I don't know, it just doesn't sound that safe to me."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, I've seen how you and Naru treat Keitaro, and I know I couldn't last as long as he has."  
  
"You'll always have your magic to protect you, right?"  
  
"Well sure, but still--"  
  
"Then you have nothing to worry about."  
  
Sean was surprised by the direction the conversation had taken. More so, he was shocked by the fact that it was Motoko of all people that started it. "Geez, what kind of affect am I having on these girls?!" he thought.  
  
"Open your eyes," Motoko said.  
  
"W-what?"  
  
"We are going to beat this thing, Sean. I don't like things being so awkward between you and us."  
  
"Honestly, I'm not sure if the uncomfortable moments will ever end."  
  
"Maybe they won't, but we'll deal with them when they happen. Open your eyes."  
  
"I hope I don't regret this," Sean thought as he slowly made his gaze toward the swordswoman. She was standing before him, her hands behind her back. He could tell she wasn't used to the whole feminine thing she was trying to pull off, as opposed to the tomboy image she usually possessed.  
  
"Well, how much can you see?"  
  
Sean looked away, blushing. "Everything."  
  
Motoko knew right away why Sean was embarrassed, and it made her face turn red as well. She brought her hands to her front and covered herself, even though she was fully clothed in reality.  
  
"See, this is what I was talking about," Sean said. "I know how much you despise peeping Toms."  
  
"Yeah. Um, could I ask you a personal question?"  
  
"Okay."  
  
"I want you to be completely honest, okay?"  
  
"Sure, what do you want to know?"  
  
"Well, you just saw… me, and I was just wanted to know, do I look attractive?"  
  
Sean was struck dumb by the unexpected question. "What are you, crazy?!" he blurted out. He regretted what he said right away when he saw her run off, a depressed look on her face. "Oh shit," he thought. He knew he screwed up royally. "Motoko, hold on!" He said, getting up and rushing after her. Motoko just blew him off and continued to the door. Sean grabbed her hand just as she was about to walk through the doorway. "Motoko, please."  
  
Motoko turned around, tears in her eyes. "This is what I get for showing my emotions; you call me crazy." She tried to pry herself out of Sean's grasp, but he held on tight.  
  
"You know I don't mean that."  
  
"Do I?"  
  
"Look, if you'll just let me explain--"  
  
"I think you've said quite enough." Her other hand started to reach for her sword.  
  
"Motoko, just hear me out before you cut me in half. Sometimes, I speak before I think."  
  
Motoko held her hand close to her blade. "Alright, but make it quick."  
  
"Thank you. What I meant was why would you need to be worried about something like that? You are a beautiful young woman, and don't you ever think otherwise! You're easily a match for any of the other girls here."  
  
"Do you mean that?"  
  
"Of course I do. I'm sorry about what I said before; I just never expected you to be so concerned about your appearance. What brought it up?"  
  
"Well," Motoko looked away from him. "I've never been that self-conscious in the past, but during my stay, I've started to become more and more worried about what others might think of me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"After seeing the reactions the others get from guys like you and Keitaro, I've started to wonder who would ever want to be with me? I mean, look at me--I don't exactly dress the part."  
  
"As if I can tell right now," Sean thought. "Listen, just because you don't show it, don't think you can't be just as alluring as the others. Sure, you may think, act and even look mature, you're still young. You have plenty of time to explore different sides of yourself, but don't force it. Let it come gradually; at a pace that's comfortable for you."  
  
A small smile appeared on Motoko's face. "You always know the right thing to say."  
  
"Only after I say the wrong thing."  
  
"Now that that's settled," Motoko said with more confidence, "maybe I should introduce you to Alicia."  
  
"Before you do that, there's something I want to show everyone."  
  
Motoko was confused. "What's that?"  
  
"Well, aren't you curious about what I've been doing these last two weeks?"  
  
"Well, sure, but I--oh!" Motoko said, realizing what he meant.  
  
"That's right. Get everyone except Keitaro and meet me in the changing room. Also, did you tell Alicia about my talents?"  
  
"No, we haven't."  
  
"Then don't get her either."  
  
"Wait, why don't you want Keitaro to see it? He's seen you cast spells before."  
  
"I know, but I don't think he's ready for this one. I'll show him later, but not now."  
  
"I see." Motoko quickly left.  
  
"I'm not sure if you're ready either, but I'd have to show you sometime," Sean thought as he slowly followed.  
  
---  
  
Sean entered the changing room to find the girls waiting there.  
  
"About time you showed up," Kitsune said, impatiently. "What's this big thing you're supposed to show us."  
  
"Well, I finally completed the spell I've been working on."  
  
"So what, it's just another spell. It's nothing we haven't seen before."  
  
"Not one like this, you haven't. Observe." He shut his eyes and made tight fists at his sides.  
  
Motoko's eyes grew wide. "Wow."  
  
"What's going on?" Naru asked.  
  
"Whatever this is, he's using a lot of ki to do it."  
  
"Oh my," Shinobu said when she saw Sean start to glow. She started to back away. The light around him intensified until he was just a pure white outline. After a few seconds of this, he spread his arms out and a blinding light spread out, forcing everyone to shield their eyes.  
  
"What the heck is he doing?!" Kitsune said.  
  
The sun-like radiance subsided after a while, revealing the white outline again, which faded as well.  
  
Everyone's jaws dropped at what they saw. "No way," Kitsune said. "There's just no way."  
  
The caster wasn't surprised a bit by their response, for the figure standing before them was none other than Alicia Dove.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XIX * * *  
  
Well, who didn't see that coming? Honestly, I wasn't trying to make it obvious, but I don't know if I did or not, since it was my plan from the get go. Hey DJ, when I read your review after Alicia showed up, I busted out laughing. You had no idea just how right you were. Who did you bet the $20 with, anyway? Oh well, see you next time, where I'll explain why I did what I did. I expect some interesting responses from this one. 


	21. Ch20: Revelations, Explanations and Misd

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean and Alicia are mine.  
  
I'm sure you're all wondering what the heck is going on right now. Well, all will be explained in this chapter. Pay attention, things are going to get very complicated really quick. For most of this chapter, I will be tossing the he's and she's around like a fribee, but keep in mind that Sean and Alicia are one and the same.  
  
P.S.: I now accept anonymous reviews. To be honest, I wasn't aware that I wasn't allowing them until recently. I apologize for the inconvenience.  
  
* * * Chapter XX: Revelations, Explanations and Misdirections * * *  
  
Alicia/Sean stood in the changing room, preparing him/herself to face the coming interrogation.  
  
Naru was the first to regain her senses. "So does this mean that Alicia was you this whole time?"  
  
"That's right."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"When I decided to do this, I had no choice but to pursue this identity to the fullest."  
  
"Why did it take so much energy to create this illusion?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Well, for starters, this is no illusion. What you're seeing is real and always has been. The reason behind all the energy I needed to use is because of the detail I put into it. Not only did I change my hair, my voice and my height," Alicia was shorter than Sean by about a foot. "but for all intents and purposes, I was--well, am--a girl. All the appropriate parts and everything. Also, I had to even change my ki wavelength to keep Motoko from finding out, and for some strange reason, I even made my female body a different age than my male one." Sean was 22, but Alicia really was 18.  
  
"I thought there was something strange about her," Motoko said to herself.  
  
Kitsune walked over to Alicia and looked her over. "Sean, I have seen you do some strange things, but this takes the cake. How are we supposed to know you're telling the truth about this? For all we know, you could have just changed clothes while we were blinded."  
  
"You want proof that I'm the real deal?" Alicia said, crossing her arms in front of her.  
  
"Yes, I do," Kitsune said, a look of great skepticism on her face.  
  
"And what exactly did you have in mind?"  
  
"Strip."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Well, I want to see if that's really a girl under those clothes."  
  
"Good thing I thought of doing this in the changing room," Sean thought as she started to unbutton the blouse she had changed into, along with a knee-length skirt, during the transformation.  
  
"What possessed you do to this?" Motoko asked.  
  
"What 'possessed me' was the pursuit of knowledge."  
  
Naru raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
  
"For the longest time, I've wondered what it would be like to be a woman, and this was the perfect opportunity to do that very thing."  
  
"But did you have to leave us to do it?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I felt it was necessary. You saw how much energy I gave off. While I was making the spell, that energy was flying all over the place. I didn't want to put anyone at risk; myself included."  
  
Suu was confused. "Huh?"  
  
"Well, how would you react if one of you caught me trying to perform my own sex change?"  
  
"Good point," Motoko said.  
  
By this time, Alicia had stripped off all her clothes. "There, are you happy, Kitsune?"  
  
Kitsune gave her another once-over. "Well, she looks like Alicia."  
  
Alicia's face started to turn pink and started to cover herself up. "This is humiliating."  
  
"Would it help if we went in the hot spring?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Best idea I've heard all day," Alicia said, walking out before more could be said.  
  
"My, he's so self-conscious all of a sudden," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, you did just force him… her to strip nude," Motoko said. "Not to mention that he must still remember how you seduced him today."  
  
"Aw, it wasn't that bad."  
  
"Don't be so sure."  
  
"God, this is awkward," Sean said to herself as she stepped into the water. "I was hoping this would go a bit more smoothly. I hope I haven't lost their trust because of how I deceived them. I couldn't live with myself if my actions caused them to hate me."  
  
"Oh, we don't hate you," a voice from behind him said.  
  
"Naru, please. After how I made you all miss me like you have, then showing up like I did and not being able to tell you who I really was--"  
  
"Sean," Motoko said, "sometimes sacrifices have to be made in order to improve one's perspective on life."  
  
"So none of you are angry with me?"  
  
"Sure, we may be a bit upset, but we could never be angry with you," Naru said. "At least not for too long."  
  
Sean was reassured by what they said. "Thank you."  
  
The girls joined Sean in the water. She instantly tried to turn away from their very beautiful, very captivating, very naked bodies.  
  
"Don't worry, Sean," Suu said. "You're one of us, now. It's alright to look at us."  
  
Alicia started to make glances at the others, her face starting to turn red. "This will take some time to get used to."  
  
"You didn't seem to mind too much before," Kitsune said, remembering how Alicia had acted in the past.  
  
"Well, during that time, I had actually added an extra part to the spell. In addition to the body, I also inserted an alternate personality."  
  
"Wait--what?" Kitsune was thoroughly confused by this.  
  
"Yes, I even changed the way I act, so I wouldn't feel so uncomfortable in times like this, but now, no such enchantment exists. Needless to say, I just don't feel right at the moment."  
  
"Aw, are you scared?" Kitsune teased.  
  
"When seeing you might provoke my death, yes."  
  
"Now, you know we wouldn't kill you," Motoko said.  
  
"What about Keitaro?"  
  
"What about him?" Naru asked.  
  
Sean rolled her eyes. "Never mind."  
  
"I must say, you picked a nice body for yourself." Kitsune said.  
  
"Uh, thanks."  
  
"Goodness, you're blushing more than Shinobu," Suu said. "You should be proud of what you've accomplished."  
  
"I am, it's just that I'm not exactly used to compliments like that."  
  
"If you keep using that body, you'll be getting stares from all kinds of guys," Kitsune said.  
  
"Not to put a damper on things, but I don't plan on getting a man."  
  
"What about Keitaro?"  
  
"Um, well…"  
  
"What's going on between you and him?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Nothing serious, really. It's just that when he has those accidents with me, I get turned on, so I've asked him to help me with that a couple times."  
  
"You didn't--"  
  
"No, I didn't have sex with him. It's just like how it is with me and Kitsune. That's why I didn't want him to see what I showed you. I doubt he would have taken it very well."  
  
"Makes sense," Motoko said.  
  
"Hold on a sec," Naru interjected. "You get turned on by that pervert?!"  
  
Sean subconsciously went into 'Sista' Mode.' "Are you saying you don't?"  
  
"No, I don't."  
  
"Well, Miss 'High and Mighty,' MAYbe you should open yourself up to new experiences every once in a while. You and him are goin' ta run inta each other in the future. You'll know it'll be an accident, I'll know it'll be an accident, we all'll know it'll be an accident, and when it does happen, MAYbe you should just go along fo' the ride. I've been on that ride a couple times before, and let me tell you su'in, I enjoyed myself the whole trip. Maybe you're just sore because you're missing out."  
  
"How did you do that?" Shinobu asked, surprised about her change in tone. "Was that magic, too?"  
  
"Actually no. I've watched quite a bit of cable television in my time. You'd be surprised how many voices I've picked up over the years."  
  
"Are you saying that I come on to Keitaro?" Naru asked.  
  
"Not necessarily, just that whenever Keitaro trips and falls on you, don't send him into space right away. Granted, if he finds us out here, that could be grounds for punishment, but if he accidentally grazes your breast or ends up in some other precarious position, don't be so rash. He'll be so apologetic anyway, it'll be punishment enough. Plus, if you treat him with a bit more kindness instead of hatred, he won't be so uncomfortable around you. He wouldn't associate you so much with pain, you know?" Sean glanced at Motoko, and she knew that the advice was directed at her as well.  
  
"Do I have to do that all the time?" Naru asked, almost disgusted with the thought of Keitaro having any sort of free reign over her body.  
  
"No, but I would suggest you at least try it every so often. I've enjoyed it, maybe you will too."  
  
"Alright, I'll try it, but if I don't like it, I won't do it again."  
  
"That's all I ask." After a moment of thought, he added, "In fact, I know of a way I can test that right now."  
  
"What do you have planned?" Naru asked, slightly worried about what Sean was thinking.  
  
"You'll see."  
  
---  
  
Keitaro sat in the living room watching television. "I hope Sean's feeling alright. He seemed more uncomfortable than usual around the girls today for some reason. Maybe I should go find him and ask him about it." He was just about to that very thing when he heard a loud scream. Quickly, he ran off in the direction of the sound without giving a thought as to where it was coming from.  
  
"Is everything alright?" He said as he opened the door to the hot spring. Moments later, everything went black.  
  
---  
  
"What did you do to him?" Naru asked when she saw Keitaro fall flat on his face.  
  
"Don't worry," Sean said. "He's just asleep. Naru, Motoko, get ready."  
  
---  
  
"Ugh, what happened?" Keitaro thought as he woke up. He had completely forgotten what had happened moments before his sudden slumber. He stretched his arms a bit and was surprised when his hands came into contact with something. Something soft, round and firm. "What the--" A few moments went by and he finally recognized what he was holding; and also what usually followed. Reluctantly, he opened his eyes and the sight before him chilled him to the core. Above him knelt his two biggest antagonists, and he was touching both of them in a place he shouldn't if he valued his life, which he did.  
  
"AH! I'm sorry! I didn't know you were there! Honest I didn't, please don't kill me!" Keitaro promptly went back inside before permanent damage could be done.  
  
"So?" Sean asked, eager for their reaction. "How do you feel?"  
  
Both Naru and Motoko weren't used to Keitaro doing those sort of things and neither of them doing anything about it.  
  
"I'm not sure," Naru said. "My first thought was to punch his lights out, but after a little while, I didn't mind it quite as much."  
  
"Well, I must say it wasn't as unpleasant as I first thought it would be," Motoko said, surprised with herself.  
  
"That was how I felt when it happened to me the first time."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yep, and I really wanted the guy after three."  
  
"Well then, perhaps we should be a bit more… friendly towards him." Naru looked at Alicia. "If that's alright with you."  
  
"Why would I have a problem with it? I already said I had no plans to be with a guy, and that includes Keitaro. I've got Shinobu; what more could I want?" A thought occurred to her. "On the other hand, there might be something I could do." Sean started to look at Kitsune.  
  
"What are you thinking?" Kitsune asked. She was genuinely curious about the look she was giving her.  
  
"I'm thinking that maybe you and I could--"  
  
"Sean…?" Shinobu started to say, tearing up.  
  
"Shinobu, you know you're my one and only. I'm actually doing this with you in mind."  
  
"What?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, it wouldn't be right for me to be with Shinobu while I'm Alicia, right?"  
  
"I see your point."  
  
"Besides, I've already got sort of a relationship with Kitsune anyway, so perhaps, when I'm a girl, the two of us could be a couple."  
  
"Are you saying Alicia's going to be a lesbian?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I don't see anything wrong with that. The only thing that would really change would be that you would be pleased by a girl instead of a guy." Alicia ran a finger down Kitsune's chest. "Also, while in my female form, I wouldn't mind you returning the favor."  
  
"Ooh." Kitsune was beginning to really like that idea.  
  
"Plus, if I stop going after Keitaro, it will make it that much easier to break the news of my new ability to him."  
  
---  
  
Panting, Keitaro reached the living room. He looked back, expecting Naru and Motoko to be upon him at any moment to rip him apart, but they were nowhere to be seen.  
  
"What the--" He said to himself between breaths. "Why aren't they attacking me? Not that I'm complaining or anything, but it's not like them to let something like that slide. This is just too weird." He didn't know what else to do.  
  
---  
  
Sean brain-flinched. "Huh boy, gotta go."  
  
"Why?" Suu asked.  
  
"When I made Keitaro fall asleep, I also placed a tracer on him so I can keep track of his movements. This is supposed to help me keep my dual identities intact. It also allows me to read his mind, so I can act accordingly." Sean snapped his fingers and a ring of light appeared, quickly moving from the top of her body to the bottom, turning Sean's body back to a male one, fully clothed and bone dry.  
  
"Hold on a sec," Naru said. "What happened to the blinding light from last time?"  
  
"That was just for show. See you later." He gave a look to both Kitsune and Shinobu before vanishing.  
  
"Dang, is there anything he can't do?" Suu wondered out loud.  
  
"I hope not," Shinobu and Kitsune thought.  
  
---  
  
Sean reappeared in his room, grabbed a book and laid down on his futon. Moments later, Keitaro opened the door.  
  
"Sean, I think something weird is going on."  
  
Sean never looked up from his book. "So what? Something weird is always going on around here. You know that."  
  
"No, you, don't understand. This is strange, even for this place."  
  
"What could be so out of the ordinary--"  
  
"I had another incident involving Naru and Motoko."  
  
"And?"  
  
"Well, I'm still here."  
  
Sean closed his book. "Come to think of it, that is strange. I would have figured they'd have sent you skyward by now."  
  
"Exactly. I'm beginning to think something's wrong."  
  
"I don't see why you're so concerned. I'd think you'd be thrilled."  
  
"Normally yeah, but I just can't help the feeling that something's not right."  
  
"Hmm. Maybe you're right. I'll have a talk with them later."  
  
"Mind if I join you, considering that I'm involved and all."  
  
"Sure, no problem." Throughout the entire conversation, Sean struggled to keep a straight face.  
  
--- 11:47 AM  
  
For Keitaro, things only got more peculiar as the day went on. At lunch, Alicia, Motoko and Naru were all making glances at him. None of them were angry looks either, which only made him more confused. "What the hell is going on?" he kept thinking. Finally, the strain became too much to handle.  
  
"Is there something going on?" he said, standing up from his seat at the table.  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds. "What do you mean?" Suu said.  
  
"Ever since Sean came back today, things have just gotten stranger and stranger, and I just want to know what's up."  
  
The girls tossed worried glances, none of them knowing what exactly to say. You could cut the tension with a knife. Finally, Alicia decided to speak.  
  
"Well, I wasn't planning on saying this so soon, but--"  
  
"But what?"  
  
"It's just… about us."  
  
"What about us?"  
  
"I just don't want you to get the wrong idea."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"You're a nice guy and all, but I want to tell you that I don't think there could be anything real between us."  
  
"But we've had such great times together, Alicia."  
  
Alicia got up, walked over to Keitaro and touched his cheek. "I know we have. I've experienced things I never have before, and I'm grateful for it, but I've had my heart broken so many times before, I'm not sure if I could stand to risk another guy playing with my emotions."  
  
"I wouldn't do something like that."  
  
"Think about it. You're living with five other beautiful girls. I can't expect you not to have thoughts about them."  
  
"Um, well…" Keitaro was reluctant to admit to it because of the damage that might be done to him afterwards.  
  
"I'm sorry. I just don't think I'm ready for a relationship right now. I hope this hasn't hurt you too badly."  
  
"No, I understand."  
  
"Thank you." Alicia gave him a peck on the cheek, bowed to the others and left.  
  
"Well, that might explain a couple of things," Keitaro thought, "but there are still a few things bugging me."  
  
When everyone finished eating, Keitaro stopped Naru and Motoko before they could leave. "Naru? Motoko?"  
  
"Yes?" Naru asked.  
  
"Could you two come up to my room for a sec? Sean and I want to have a little chat with you."  
  
"Sure," Motoko said. "As long as it's only to talk."  
  
As the three made their way to the males' room, Naru and Motoko couldn't help but wonder what Sean wanted to say to them. Keitaro opened the door to find Sean seated at the table, facing them. He beckoned them to join him. Keitaro sat down next to him, with the girls sitting opposite them.  
  
"So," Sean began, his head resting in his hands, "Keitaro tells me you're starting to slack off when it comes to punishing perverts. Is this true?"  
  
Neither Naru nor Motoko knew how to react to this until Sean gave them a wink. "Uh, Alicia talked to us about how we've been treating you," Motoko said, gently elbowing Naru, causing her to speak as well.  
  
"Um, yeah, she thought we have been a bit too hasty in our actions concerning you."  
  
"Really?" Keitaro said optimistically.  
  
"That's right. With that in mind, she figured we should try to be more understanding of your little accidents. In fact, that incident in the hot spring today was set up by her to test us; to see if we were able to contain our rage."  
  
"Apparently, you passed," Sean noted.  
  
"Does this mean you won't be beating me anymore?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Not entirely," Motoko said. "If you try to peek at us, you'll still feel our wrath."  
  
"That means no unexpected hot spring visits or coming up to my room without knocking first!" Naru added.  
  
"Of course," Keitaro said. He knew well enough that those things might still happen, but at the moment he didn't really care. All he cared about was that his beatings were going to be on a rapid decline over the coming days.  
  
"We apologize for the unpleasant things you've experienced," Motoko said. "We were rash; we didn't take your feelings into consideration and caused you undue harm."  
  
"I forgive you both. Through it all, I still like you."  
  
"Sound kinda like me, doesn't it?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yeah, it does," Naru said, full aware of what she and Motoko had done to him.  
  
"I hope we have more…" Motoko tried to find the right word. "…pleasant times in the future." She stood up and motioned Naru to do the same.  
  
"I do too" Keitaro said.  
  
"Here, let me show you to the door," Sean said. He stood up, walked to the door and opened it for them.  
  
"Thank you," Naru said as she and Motoko left, leaving the two men alone.  
  
"I guess that clears up all the questions in my mind right now," Keitaro said.  
  
"Good. I'm going to go start my rounds; you know, check to see if anything needs fixing and all that. See ya."  
  
"Later." Keitaro watched Sean leave, closing the door behind him. "Oh man," he thought, "life just does not get much better than this, does it?" Suddenly, he could hear Sean talking from the other side of the door:  
  
"Well, that sure was interesting. I hope things go just as well when I tell him about me and Alicia."  
  
Keitaro was shocked. "No way. Is Sean and Alicia--no, he's not that kind of guy, but still--I think I need to tell Shinobu about this." He quickly opened the door and, making sure Sean was nowhere to be seen, made his way to Shinobu's room and knocked on the door.  
  
"Who is it?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"It's Keitaro. May I talk to you?"  
  
"Sure, come on in." Shinobu watched Keitaro enter; there was a concerned expression on his face. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It's about Sean."  
  
"Did Naru and Motoko hurt him again?"  
  
"I fear they might do worse than that if this gets out."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"You know Sean better than I do, right?"  
  
"Yeah." Shinobu was getting confused and curious at the same time.  
  
"Well, what would you think if I told you that Sean might be seeing Alicia behind your back?"  
  
"What?" Shinobu knew the truth, but she figured Keitaro didn't yet, so she decided to play along. "He wouldn't do something like that."  
  
"I wouldn't think so either, but I heard him talking and made mention of telling me about him and her."  
  
Shinobu started to tear up. "No, that can't be right."  
  
"I might have misheard, but--"  
  
"Let's go find him," Shinobu said, getting up to leave. "I need to find out for sure."  
  
"Oh, dear," Keitaro thought. "Maybe I shouldn't have done this after all."  
  
---  
  
Sean was passing by through the living room during his rounds when he saw Shinobu, tears streaming down her face. "Shinobu, what's wrong?"  
  
Shinobu slowly made her way toward him. "Can I ask you something very important?"  
  
"Of course; what do you want to know?"  
  
"You wouldn't cheat on me, would you?"  
  
Sean was surprised by the question. "No, of course not. What brought this up?"  
  
"Well, Keitaro just told me that you might be seeing Alicia. Well, are you?"  
  
Motoko, who along with everyone else was watching television there when the scene unfolded, started to unsheathe her sword. "Yes, Sean, tell us, are you seeing her behind our backs, cause if you break her heart, I swear, I'll--"  
  
"Motoko, I haven't done anything!" Sean said.  
  
"Then how come I heard you saying you were going to tell me about you and her?" Keitaro asked. "Care to explain that one?"  
  
"Um, well…"  
  
"Sean how could you?!" Shinobu cried, running out; tears trailing behind her.  
  
"Shinobu wait--!" Sean was interrupted by Motoko bringing her sword to his neck.  
  
"I think you've hurt her enough, you adulterer."  
  
"Motoko, please, I didn't do anything!"  
  
"And to think I've gotten so much respect for you," Naru said.  
  
"Sorry, but I have to see Shinobu!" Sean's hands started to glow and he pushed Motoko's sword away from neck, giving himself the leeway to run after Shinobu.  
  
"On, no," Naru said, giving chase along with Motoko. "You're not getting away that easily! You are going to pay for what you've done!"  
  
"It's been nice knowing ya," Suu said.  
  
"Don't say that!" Keitaro said.  
  
"Easy for you to say! You just sent him into the lions den!" Kitsune said. "This is a soap opera come to life," she thought, barely able to keep a straight face.  
  
---  
  
Sean found Shinobu outside. He was surprised to see that not only did she stop crying, but she was smiling at him. "What just happened?"  
  
"I'm sorry about doing that, but Keitaro come to me saying that you might be seeing Alicia, and I had to play along."  
  
"So that's what's going on," Naru said.  
  
"I'm sorry, Sean," Motoko said, sheathing her sword. "I never meant to threaten you, but I had to act as well."  
  
"No harm done, thank goodness for that. Now there's this little matter of how to deal with Keitaro…"  
  
--- 8:12 PM  
  
Keitaro's studies were interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." The door opened and he was surprised to see Alicia walk in. "So, you finally show your face."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"I know about you and Sean seeing each other. Do you have any idea how heartbroken Shinobu is right now?"  
  
"What do you mean? Sean and I aren't dating or anything, but I do know the guy very well."  
  
"How?"  
  
"Let me show you." Alicia made subtle hand gestures and a small ball of light appeared her hand.  
  
"You can use magic?" Keitaro asked, surprised that she had the ability.  
  
"That's not all." She moved the ball above her head and it began to shower her in sparks, completely hiding her from view. Keitaro was curious as to what she was doing, and when the cascade of energy dissipated, his eyes grew wide at what he saw.  
  
"Sean?!"  
  
"Yep, it's me."  
  
"So, the whole time Alicia was here, that was you?" Sean nodded. "Even when she and I were--" Sean nodded again.  
  
Sean was stunned when he saw Keitaro faint. "Huh boy."  
  
A few minutes later, Keitaro woke up. "Oh, what just happened?"  
  
"The shock must have been too much for you."  
  
"Well, I just can't believe that you and Alicia are the same person."  
  
"Obviously."  
  
"How did you do that, anyway?" Sean explained the whole thing; what he did and the reasons for it. "I see, but it's still unnerving to know that I did those things to you."  
  
"At first, that wasn't what I intended, but after a few accidents with you, I started to get… those kinds of feelings."  
  
Keitaro looked a bit pale. "You're kidding."  
  
"Afraid not. When I took that form, I accepted everything that came with it, feelings of arousal and everything. If it helps, when I told you about how I enjoyed our experiences, I meant it. Needless to say, I don't plan on any more encounters like that now that you know the truth, but I'm still going to change genders quite often in the future."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"There's still so much for me to learn. Besides, Alicia will pick up a relationship with Kitsune where I left off; and it will be mutually beneficial for a change. Hopefully, that will decrease the torture I've had to endure from that woman."  
  
"Does Shinobu know about that?"  
  
"Oh sure. She knows that Alicia may be with Kitsune, but Sean is Shinobu's and hers alone."  
  
"Speaking of which, how is she dealing with that whole cheating thing I started?"  
  
"Oh, she's fine. I had already told her about me earlier today. In fact, you're the last one to find out about this. I swear, that girl can act; she even had me believing for a while."  
  
"Oh. Well, I'm glad things are working out for you, then."  
  
"Yep. I'd say this was a good homecoming."  
  
"What do you say we go downstairs and watch television with the girls?"  
  
"Nah, I'll just stay here and read a bit. Changing bodies as many times as I have today has taken a lot out of me."  
  
Keitaro nodded and walked out toward the living room. When he got there, he found all the girls together, watching television. Suu was the first to see him arrive. "Hey, Keitaro!" She leaped off the couch, onto his shoulders. The momentum from the added weight propelled him forward, landing headfirst in the chest of a certain dark-haired swordswoman.  
  
Survival instinct kicked in and he immediately removed himself from her. "I'm… I'm…" He didn't know exactly what to say. Sure, that talk he had with her and Naru helped, but he still didn't know how she would react.  
  
Motoko noticed his look that was a combination of confusion and worry. She took his hand and sat him down next to her on the couch, a smile on her face.  
  
Keitaro saw the smile that was quite different from the usual "time to kill the pervert" look she usually had. "Thank you," he said quietly. He saw her nod in response. "My God," he thought, "this has got to be the best day of my life."  
  
* * * End of Chapter XX * * *  
  
Aw, isn't that cute? Things are certainly looking up for him, huh? I appreciate you being here for this long, and when I eventually get a new chapter done, I hope you'll be here to enjoy it. Please R&R! 


	22. Ch21: Lightning Strikes Twice

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Here we go. Caution, this might be a bit of a bumby ride. Keep your arms and legs inside the car at all times.  
  
* * * Chapter XXI: Lightning Strikes Twice * * *  
  
Sunday, 10/7 6:44 AM  
  
Sean sat out on the roof, enjoying the view. All the while, he was thinking about the previous day's events and how much his experiments have taught him over the last week. "I wonder how much there is to know, exactly?" he said to himself. "More importantly, how much of it do I really want to find out first-hand?"  
  
"Probably not everything," Naru said from behind him.  
  
Sean turned around, slightly startled by her sudden appearance. "You got that right. There are some things that I'd rather not experience; like childbirth for example."  
  
"So you only want to go through the good things, huh?"  
  
"Not necessarily. I just don't want to go too far with it, you know? It's just supposed to be a learning experience, not a change in lifestyle."  
  
"I see." Naru paused a bit before she spoke again. "Aren't you cold out here?"  
  
"A little bit." Sean noticed that Naru was wearing a jacket, which was more than he could say for himself. "It was such a nice day I never really noticed it, but I guess I should go in before I catch cold or something." Sean continued after the two got inside. "So, what's on your mind? Surely, you didn't seek me out just to tell me the weather."  
  
"Uh, right. Well, I just wanted to talk to you about--" She was interrupted by screams and what sounded like explosions.  
  
"Oh no," Sean thought. This has happened before; many times, in fact.  
  
Out of nowhere, Keitaro appeared, screaming and running like his life depended on it, but what got Sean's attention was what followed the terrified man; a toy tank. Normally, such a thing wouldn't cause such a reaction, but this one was different; this one was made, owned and usually operated by a certain foreign inventor.  
  
"Here we go again," Sean thought as the tank fired a missile that was no bigger than his index finger, but it caused him to raise his force field anyway. "Get down!" He yelled, not bothering to look back, keeping his attention on the tiny projectile. When the rocket made contact with the shield, a surprisingly large explosion resulted, bathing the hall in smoke. When the smoke cleared, Sean saw Suu standing behind her creation, a wide smile on her face and a remote control in her hand.  
  
"SUU!!" Sean yelled furiously.  
  
"Yes?" Suu replied.  
  
"How many times have I told you not to play with your tanks in the house?!"  
  
"37," She answered, still smiling.  
  
"She kept track?!" Sean thought. "Hell, even I lost count after saying it about a dozen times!"  
  
"And yet you still do," he said aloud. "Why?"  
  
"It's fun to play with you and Keitaro!"  
  
"Some fun," Sean thought as he stepped towards her.  
  
When she saw him approach, Suu grabbed her tank and ran off, with Sean following soon after.  
  
"I'm going to catch you, Suu, and when I do, I'll--"  
  
"You'll do what?" Suu taunted.  
  
"Um, well, I don't know, but I'll think of something!"  
  
Suu effortlessly made her way down that halls, while Sean struggled just to keep up. "This is pointless," he thought. "I've never been able to catch her like this. There must be some way to--that's it!"  
  
As Suu neared the kitchen, she glanced back to find that Sean wasn't following her anymore. "Where did he--" she started to think until she looked forward and saw him there, smiling victoriously.  
  
"Now I gotcha," he said.  
  
Thinking quickly, Suu used her momentum to her advantage, jumping into the air and connecting with a powerful kick to Sean's forehead.  
  
"What did you do that for?" asked Shinobu, who saw the whole thing while she was making breakfast.  
  
"Well, Sean cheated," Suu answered, crossing her arms. "He wasn't supposed to do that. It's not fair to do that to catch me."  
  
"Who cares if it's not fair?! It's not right to kick people, especially Sean! You know he can't take a hit as well as Keitaro! Just look at him!" Shinobu pointed at Sean's unconscious body sprawled out on the floor. There was a nasty looking bruise on his head where Suu whacked him.  
  
"Oops." Suu started biting her lip nervously.  
  
---  
  
While Sean was focused on chasing Suu all around Hinata House, he was completely unaware that Keitaro had collided with Naru, knocking them both to the ground, their faces mere inches apart. Each of them blushed heavily when they realized the precarious position they were in.  
  
"Sean was right," Naru thought. "This really isn't as bad as I first made it out to be. I could get used to this."  
  
Keitaro's thoughts were slightly less insightful. "Oh my God, she's so beautiful."  
  
"Um, Keitaro?" Naru said softly.  
  
"Yes, Naru?" Keitaro said just as quietly, his eyes lost in hers.  
  
"Could you get off me before someone finds us like this?"  
  
Keitaro semi-reluctantly obeyed. "Um, I guess I should apologize for that," he said as he helped Naru to her feet. "I wasn't watching where I was going."  
  
"Don't. It was my fault. I couldn't get out of the way in time. Besides, Suu can get so out of hand sometimes."  
  
"I know." Keitaro looked back the way he came; there were scorch marks along sections of the floor, walls and ceiling.  
  
"I guess now's a good a time as any," Naru thought. "Though I wanted to talk to Sean about this first." Naru started to blush again. "Keitaro, could I talk to you in my room for a bit?"  
  
"Sure," Keitaro said without giving it a second thought. As the two neared Naru's door, Keitaro started to wonder what could be so important that they would need the privacy of Naru's room for her to say what she needed to.  
  
After they entered and Naru closed the door behind them, she prepared to speak. "I don't know which feels worse," she thought, "the fact that I'm about to do this, or that I'm so nervous about it. Oh well, I've gone this far, I might as well go through with it."  
  
"When we were trying to get in Toudai," she said out loud, "did you enjoy the study time we spent together?"  
  
"Yes, I did," Keitaro said. "…Despite the implied insults to my intelligence," his mind added.  
  
"I admit, at first I despised having to spend time with you everyday, but eventually, I began to enjoy it as well."  
  
"Really?"  
  
Naru looked a bit ashamed. "Yeah, but after we both passed the entrance exams, those times seemed to end in an instant. I can't help but wonder why that happened."  
  
"I've wondered that too, but why do you seem so choked up about it?"  
  
"Within a month of Sean's arrival, he and I had a study relationship like we did."  
  
"What happened between you two?" Keitaro asked, curious about what split them apart.  
  
"Like us, those study sessions ended after a while, and before I knew it, I had lost him forever."  
  
"He got involved with Shinobu," Keitaro noted.  
  
"Right. I thought he would be there forever, but then I found out the hard way just how wrong I was. I don't want to go through that all over again, so I'm going to ask you right now; do you like me?"  
  
"You know I do."  
  
Naru grabbed his shirt and moved his face to within inches of hers; he could see tears start to form in her eyes. "No, you don't understand. I mean, DO YOU LIKE ME?"  
  
"Oh." Keitaro was surprised by how serious she was about this. "You mean do I like you as more than a friend?" Naru slowly nodded.  
  
Precious seconds ticked away in a kind of silence that would even drive a mime crazy. "Why doesn't he answer?" Naru thought, fearing the worst. "Maybe it was wrong of me to put so much pressure on him."  
  
"I'm sorry," she said, backing off. "I shouldn't ask you to make such a decision." She heard a breath of relief come from him.  
  
"Thank you. To be honest, I don't know exactly how I feel towards you. I do like you--that part can't be denied. I just don't know if I like you just as a friend or if there's something else there. It will take some time to figure it all out."  
  
"Alright." Naru sat down on her futon. "But I want you to know that when you finally decide, I'll be here."  
  
"Just do me one favor, Naru."  
  
"Anything!"  
  
Keitaro sat next to her. "Keep it together until I do. Remember, if you need to talk, you know where to find me."  
  
"I'm just not sure if I can stand the wait."  
  
"Naru, you're one of the most determined people I know. When you put your mind to something, you're not one to give up easily. If anyone can do this, I know you can."  
  
Naru felt Keitaro's hand caressing her cheek, wiping away her tears. "Thank you."  
  
"I hope I haven't hurt your feelings or anything. I'd hate to see you upset because of me."  
  
Naru shook her head. "No, this is a tough choice to make; one that might change both our lives forever. I do want an answer, but I don't want to pressure you to make a decision that you might regret later."  
  
Keitaro nodded, smiling, then got up to leave; or at least he would be if Naru hadn't held his hand in a tight grip.  
  
"Don't leave yet." Keitaro sat back down and she quickly buried her face in his chest, knocking him flat on his back on the futon. "It feels good to get this out in the open," her voice was muffled by his shirt.  
  
"Who knew she felt this way?" Keitaro thought as he felt Naru's tears through his shirt. "I hope it won't take too long for me to decide. I hate seeing her like this."  
  
---  
  
"Oh, my head," Sean muttered as he regained consciousness. He opened his eyes and found Suu staring at him, her face inches from his own. His eyes went wide and a gasp escaped his lips. "Suu, don't do that!"  
"Yep, he's awake," Suu said.  
  
"Thank goodness," Shinobu said, relieved that her boyfriend was alright.  
  
"How long was I out?" Sean asked, slowly sitting up.  
  
"A couple hours," another voice said.  
  
"Huh?" Sean turned his head. "Oh, hey Kitsune."  
  
"Well, that wasn't much of a greeting," Kitsune said, crossing her arms.  
  
"What kind of greeting did you expect? I just recovered from one of Suu's kicks, for Pete's sake!"  
  
"Sorry about that, Sean," Suu said. "You just surprised me, that's all. You did appear in front of me all of a sudden."  
  
"Well, I ran out of options. I had to figure out some way to catch you, and I thought one of my bright ideas would work for a change. Shows what I know, huh?" Sean smiled weakly.  
  
"Don't worry, you'll get me someday!" Suu said.  
  
"I suppose," Sean said. "But try not to kick me again any time soon. That really hurts." He felt the bump on his head, wincing in pain.  
  
"You want me to kiss it and make it feel better?" Kitsune asked as she started making her moves on him again.  
  
"Not now. I still have to clean up after a certain someone." He got up and started to leave. "I swear," he muttered under his breath, "if I haven't made constant repairs to this place it would be nothing but rubble right now."  
  
"Hey, wait up!" Shinobu said, rushing to his side. "I'll help you."  
  
"Thanks," Sean said as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders, making her blush. "You have missed me, haven't you?"  
  
Shinobu's blush deepened as she looked at him sweetly. Words were not needed.  
  
--- (10 minutes later…)  
  
Sean was on his hands and knees, examining the patch of burnt wood before him. He sighed a bit before getting to work. "I'm glad it gets easier each time I do this." He rested his hands on the charred planks and began to restore them back to their former glory.  
  
"I'm glad I could help you with this." Sean looked over at Shinobu, who was working on the walls in a similar fashion. "It allows us to really spend time together."  
  
"Yeah. I guess Suu's destructive tendencies aren't so bad after all." After being away for as long as he has--at least in identity--he would enjoy all the time with Shinobu that he could get. After all, the two were a couple, as unlikely as it may look.  
  
Sean's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He looked up to find Haruka there, staring at him. "Oh, hey Haruka. Long time no see." She just stood there, giving him a look of disbelief. "Why is she looking at me that way?" he thought before he remembered that he was working on the ceiling the whole time. "Oh. I guess nobody told you about my magic yet, huh?"  
  
"I should say not," Haruka said, finally joining the conversation. "How long have you been able to do stuff like that?"  
  
Sean lowered himself to the floor before he answered. "A while, but when I first showed up here, my skills were quite limited."  
  
Haruka turned to Shinobu. "Does everyone know about this?"  
  
"Are you kidding? He taught us girls how, but I guess I'm the only one who found that much interest in it afterward."  
  
"I think I know why," Haruka said.  
  
Their conversation was interrupted when Sean saw someone approach. "Hey, Motoko." He noticed that she looked like there was something on her mind. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Not really," Motoko said. "I just want to talk to Haruka about something."  
  
Sean was a bit surprised by this. Usually, when one of the girls had something to get off her chest (Not like that! Shame on you!), they would talk to him, but he figured that Motoko had something very personal on her mind and that Haruka might be able to help her better than he would, so he didn't let it get to him. "Sure. Shinobu and I have some more repairs to do, anyway."  
  
"Suu been playing with her tanks again?" Haruka asked.  
  
"Yeah. I'm glad I've got my magic to fix this place with, or we'd go broke."  
  
Haruka looked at Sean curiously. "What kind of stuff can you do, exactly?"  
  
"Anything I set my mind to." Sean hesitated a bit before he continued. "In fact, you remember Alicia?"  
  
"Of course," Haruka said. Suddenly, something clicked in her brain. "You mean Alicia was you?!" Sean nodded. "But how--"  
  
"It wasn't easy, I can assure you of that. It took me over a week just to get the spell right, and then a few more days to get used to the new body before I made my appearance."  
  
"But why would you do something like that?"  
  
"It's not what you think. I just thought it would be a good learning experience; and it has. Anyway, you have someone else to talk to right now, so we'll be on our way. See ya." Sean and Shinobu left to finish their repairs.  
  
"Well, that sure was interesting," Haruka muttered, scratching her head before turning her attention to Motoko. "So, what did you want to talk about?"  
  
Motoko looked around to see if anyone was around before responding. "Well, it's just that…" Motoko started to blush. "I think I'm starting to have feelings for Keitaro."  
  
"Really?" Haruka raised an eyebrow. "When did it start?"  
  
"After Sean advised me and Naru to not go flying off the handle every time Keitaro has those accidents. Since then, I've… sort of…"  
  
"Ah, so he's finally grown on you," Haruka said, provoking another blush from the swordswoman. "I'm sure he would be glad to be with you if you just give him a chance."  
  
"That's the thing. I'm so nervous; I don't know what to do."  
  
"Motoko, listen, you shouldn't be talking to me about this."  
  
"Then who?"  
  
"You need to talk to Keitaro; let him know how you feel."  
  
"But what if he doesn't like me back?"  
  
"That's a risk you'll have to take. It's better than keeping your feelings for him hidden until it's too late."  
  
"You're right. I'll have a talk with him later… when I'm ready."  
  
"Good."  
  
---  
  
"I just can't have a normal day, can I?" Keitaro thought as the day wore on. Sure, things were rarely anything close to normal when all the girls were assembled together, but Keitaro still wished he could have at least one ordinary day at Hinata-Sou.  
  
First, there was the fact that Naru made discreet glances at him at every opportunity. He figured she was just trying to influence his decision, or at least get him to make it quicker. Through all that, he still wasn't quite sure of his feelings about her, and the pressure she was starting to put on him didn't help any.  
  
The thing that really got to him however, was that he had the distinct impression that Motoko was making active efforts to avoid him. Normally, he wouldn't think too much of it; he thought it was just her tendency to keep to herself, but after a while, he noticed that she was acting this way around him and him alone. Even during lunch and dinner, she would keep her gaze away from him at all costs. He racked his brain to try to think of some explanation, but none came to mind.  
  
--- 9:45 PM --- Sean/Keitaro's room  
  
"…and that's what's going on," Keitaro said when he finished explaining Motoko's odd behavior to Sean.  
  
"Hmm…" Sean was in deep thought. "This is strange. I'm sorry, but I couldn't tell you what's going on. This is the first I've heard about this."  
  
"Oh." Keitaro seemed disappointed that Sean didn't have an answer.  
  
"Let me see… do you think she's mad at you for some reason?"  
  
"I don't think so. If she was angry with me, she would have already tried to cut me in half."  
  
"Good point."  
  
"I just can't explain it. It seems like she just doesn't want me around her for some reason."  
  
"Huh." Sean let it sink for a minute. "I wonder what's--" Sean was interrupted by a knock at the door. "Come in." The door opened and Motoko stepped in. Both men were shocked by at the sight of her; she sure as hell didn't look or act like the warrior they have come to know. In her place was a timid girl who may not exactly know what she was about to do. "Hey, Motoko. We were just talking about you. I was just wondering, is there something--"  
  
"Did I do something to upset you?!" Keitaro interrupted. "Cuz if I did, I'm sorry." Motoko slowly shook her head. "Then why do you duck out of the room whenever I walk in?"  
  
Motoko's face started to turn red. "I… I… have to tell Keitaro something."  
  
"Do you want me to leave?" Sean asked.  
  
"No, that's alright." Motoko went silent for a while, trying to think of how to say what she needed to so badly. Eventually, she couldn't take it anymore. "I'm sorry," she said as she started to back out the door.  
  
"Now hold on, Motoko," Sean said, stopping her in her tracks. "You said you had something to say. What's stopping you from saying it?"  
  
"I'm just so nervous. I don't know how he'll react to this."  
  
Sean walked up to Motoko. "Just because you don't know what will happen doesn't mean you shouldn't try. Imagine this: You're trying to get somewhere; you follow me?" Motoko nodded. "Good. On the way, you come to a brick wall. There's no way around, and you can't climb over it, but you need to get past it to get to where you're going. What do you do?"  
  
"I strike the wall and make it crumble before me," Motoko said confidently.  
  
"Good. Now, there's a brick wall in your mind right now that's keeping you from saying what you want to say to Keitaro. Are you just going to give up and walk away, or are you going to bring that wall down like I know you can?"  
  
"You're right, Sean," Motoko said. "Fear isn't something that can't be overcome. Thank you." She approached Keitaro. "There's something I have to tell you."  
  
"Yes?"  
Motoko took a deep breath. "I have feelings for you."  
  
"Is that--wait; what?!" Sean was shocked by what she just said.  
  
"You mean all this time you were avoiding me, it was because you like me?!"  
  
"Yeah," Motoko said, becoming shy once again. "I was just so scared. I mean, I didn't know how you would respond to something like this, especially after how badly I've beaten you since you came here--" Motoko was stopped by Sean's hand being placed on her shoulder.  
  
"You can stop now, Motoko." Motoko was confused by what he said until he pointed out that Keitaro had fainted shortly after his little outburst.  
  
--- 10:21 PM  
  
After being out for what felt like an eternity, Keitaro started to hear a voice; albeit it was a bit distant, but it was better than complete silence. Eventually, the voice became closer; more distinct, and he instantly recognized to whom it belonged.  
  
"Keitaro, are you alright?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, sitting up. "What just happened?"  
  
"You passed out about half an hour ago," Sean said. "Right after Motoko broke the big news to you."  
  
"Oh yeah," Keitaro said, remembering what she had said.  
  
"I'm sorry," Motoko said. By looking at her, Keitaro could tell she had been crying. "I should have known better--"  
  
"No," Keitaro said, "I'm sure you had good reason to say what you did. I was just taken by surprise."  
  
"I must admit," Sean said, "I never saw this coming. I guess that's what you talked to Haruka about, huh?" Motoko nodded.  
  
Keitaro suddenly remembered that Naru was in the same room. "Are you sure you should be--"  
  
"Don't worry," Naru said. "They told me everything while you were out."  
  
"Oh." Keitaro looked down at the futon where he had been placed. "Then you know my decision just got much harder to make."  
  
"Yeah," Naru said, sadly. "I do."  
  
"What decision is that?" Sean asked.  
  
Naru sighed. "I guess it's now or never," she thought. "Earlier this morning, I… confessed myself to him, and I asked if he liked me as much as I do him; he hasn't responded yet."  
  
Sean's eyes went wide. "Huh boy," he muttered. "Maybe I should be going."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"I'm going to be blunt; it doesn't take a genius to see that this situation might turn ugly, and I don't think I want to be here if it does."  
  
"I see," Motoko said. She understood where Sean was coming from. The two most potentially violent girls in Hinata-Sou were about to clash for the affection of the man that has been, until recently, the subject of their animosity. She knew it might be unpleasant to say the very least, but nonetheless… "Sean," she said just as Sean was about to walk out. "Don't leave. I think we may need you now more than ever."  
  
"I'm not sure how," Sean said. "I don't exactly have much advise to give for this sort of thing."  
  
"Maybe not," Naru said, "but you could still help out by keeping things civil between us."  
  
"I suppose." The four were just about to get start trying to figure out what to do when someone knocked on the door. "Who is it?"  
  
"Could I see you out here for a moment?" It sounded like Kitsune.  
  
"Sure, if it's just for a moment." Sean nodded to the others before he went to the door, opened it a bit and stuck his head out to see Kitsune standing before him, but that wasn't what caught his attention. What did was the semi-see-through nightie she had on, which didn't leave much of anything to the imagination, especially since she wore nothing underneath.  
  
"Hello, Sean," Kitsune said.  
  
Sean looked at the three in his room for a moment and then back at Kitsune. "What are you doing?" he asked in a hushed voice.  
  
"It's been a long time since the two of us have been… together, hasn't it?"  
  
"Yes, it has."  
  
"For me, it felt like it's been too long."  
  
"I see, so you want me to--"  
  
"Yes, I do," Kitsune said before he could finish.  
  
Sean thought the matter over for a few seconds. "Okay, just let me do something real quick."  
  
"Alright."  
  
Sean retracted his head back into room and closed the door. "O…kay then. Um, you'll have to excuse me; there's something I have to go take care of."  
  
"Kitsune," Motoko said. Sean nodded. "Go ahead."  
  
"Thank you. I hope you can come up with an idea all three of you can agree on." Sean then transformed into Alicia. "I wish you good luck." Alicia walked out, leaving the three alone in Sean's room to try to sort out what to do about the situation they were in.  
  
"I swear," Keitaro said, "that is going to take a heck of a long time to get used to."  
  
"So," Naru said, "what should we do?"  
  
"I'm not sure," Motoko said. "I never expected both of us to vocalize our attraction to him in the same day."  
  
"You're telling me," Keitaro said. "You know what, it's late. This has been a tough day for all of us, so I think we hold off on it until tomorrow."  
  
"What?" Naru said.  
  
"Hear me out. After we all get some sleep, we should be able to think of something that could work out for all of us. I'm not sure we could do that tonight."  
  
"You're right," Motoko said. "After what we've been through today, sleep is probably the thing we need the most."  
  
"Alright," Naru said, accepting the idea, partially because she was outnumbered. "We'll meet back here in the morning. Until then, may you all sleep well." With that Naru started to go up the trapdoor to her room.  
  
"You too," Motoko and Keitaro said as both of them got ready for bed themselves. (Which involved Motoko heading back to her room, of course.)  
  
"I don't believe this," Keitaro thought. "To think something like this would happen to me of all people." He tried not to think about it any further, so as not to overload his brain.  
  
He, along with Naru and Motoko, went to sleep relatively quickly that night; or so one of them hoped.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXI * * *  
  
Ooh, I can be such a mean writer, huh? I left so many thing up in the air, you'd need a hard hat. Next chapter, I will show you which person is having trouble sleeping and what will come out of it. In the meantime, you can contemplate your own conclusions. Until then, so long, see you next time, and please R&R! 


	23. Ch22: A Restless Night

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Okay, there are a couple things I should attend to.  
  
First, DJ, if you want me to send you hate mail, calling me a playa just doesn't cut it. I'm glad you, along with everyone else who has reviewed, like this; it gives me the strength to go on with it.  
  
Second, I want to clarify the whole Sean/Alicia thing a bit more. When I'm referring to either of them outside of quotes (Sean said, Alicia said, and all that) it will be referring solely to which form my character has taken at that time, so if Sean has turned into Alicia, he... she will referred to as Alicia. Thank you for your patience.  
  
* * * Chapter XXII: A Restless Night * * *  
  
--- 11:32 PM  
  
One of the girls tossed and turned in bed, unable to get any sleep whatsoever.  
  
"Oh no, it's happening again." Motoko sat up in her futon; she knew she would not be able to get any sleep while she had to hold off the emotions that threatened to take control of her yet again.  
  
The feelings she was experiencing were the kind that she wouldn't dare reveal to anyone for fear what they might think of her. Sure, she knew these things were just part of being human, but she still had a reputation of being able to keep her emotions in check. Despite all this, she didn't know how long she would be able to last.  
  
"Why do these feelings keep reappearing?" She silently asked herself. "As much as I try, they just won't leave me alone!"  
  
As if the emotions themselves weren't enough, they would also bring visions with them. These images were always very detailed, always very explicit and always featured Sean. At first, she was able to keep them at bay with ease, but they would just keep coming back again and again, and every time it was harder to get rid of them. These emotions would also remind her about how Sean has frequently been the subject of a special brand of torture at the hands (and in most cases, other body parts) of Kitsune.  
  
"This must be how Sean feels when that fox goes after him. I don't know how he can stand it for so long."  
  
The thing that really made her worried was the conflict between her emotions toward Keitaro and her fantasies of Sean. "I need to get these thoughts out of my head. If I can't, it could jeopardize everything Naru, Keitaro and I might try to accomplish in the morning."  
  
She was well aware of how to make the erotic thoughts leave. At first, she was almost disgusted that she would even consider such a thing, but as the feelings got stronger, the prospect got more realistic; even more appealing. This night, the sensations were the strongest they have ever been, and she knew that if she didn't do something soon, it would consume her, body and mind.  
  
"That's it," she thought, getting out of bed. "I have no other options." She hoped it would not come to this, but she knew that sooner or later her defenses would fail. She slowly opened the door and peeked out. She was glad that no one was around to see her in her condition. Slowly but surely she made her way downstairs toward Sean's room.  
  
When Motoko passed Kitsune's door, it opened and she saw Alicia walk out. In the dim light, Motoko could see Alicia's clothes in a bundle in her arms, as opposed to on her body. Motoko blushed at the sight of her. "Uh, hello Sean."  
  
"Motoko, what are you doing up so late?" Alicia said, concerned about her well-being.  
  
"Should I ask you the same thing?"  
  
"Kitsune and I have been apart for a long time." Alicia said, looking back into the room she just stepped out of. Kitsune could be seen inside, sleeping peacefully--or at least it looked like she was asleep. "A long time."  
  
Motoko knew full well what the two of them do together, and it made it that much easier for her to make the request. "Um, Sean, could you help me with something?"  
  
"Sure, what?"  
  
"I've been having… certain feelings about you lately."  
  
Alicia had an idea as to where this was going. "But I thought you liked Keitaro."  
  
"I do, but the feelings I have for you right now are quite different. I couldn't ask Keitaro to do this, especially with Naru liking him as well."  
  
"I see. Come with me." Alicia led Motoko to her room. (not Sean's, mind you)  
  
"Wait, we're doing this in there?"  
  
"Do you have a problem with that?" Alicia said as she and Motoko entered.  
  
"It's just that I wouldn't want Keitaro to hear. I would be embarrassed to no end if he should catch us."  
  
"Relax, Motoko." Alicia waved her hand and the walls glowed blue for a moment. "That's what soundproofing is for."  
  
"So nobody will hear us, then?"  
  
"That's right," Alicid said, taking a seat on her futon and motioning Motoko to do the same.  
  
"Thank you," Motoko said as she sat down, trying to keep Alicia's nude form out of her line of sight.  
  
"Are you sure you want to go through with this?" Alicia asked, noticing how uncomfortable Motoko was with what she intended to do.  
  
"Yes," Motoko said after a few moments. "If I plan to be with Keitaro, I have to get my thoughts of you out of my mind." Motoko suddenly realized that didn't sound quite right. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that, I--"  
  
"Don't worry, I understand. At least you're not forcing yourself on me like someone else I know."  
  
"If I don't do this now, I fear that may happen," Motoko said, ashamed with herself.  
  
"How long have you had these feeling for me?" Alicia asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"About a month and a half," Motoko said, her face turning a bright shade of red.  
  
"Wow," Alicia said. "I'm impressed."  
  
"What?" Motoko was confused by the strange compliment.  
  
"It took Kitsune less time to become a complete wreck because of the exact same thing. You have a stronger will than I ever gave you credit for, though not by a whole lot. Why haven't you told me about this before?"  
  
"I thought I would be able to keep those feelings buried, but they just keep getting stronger with each passing day--"  
  
"--so you want to do this now before you pursue Keitaro any further," Alicia finished, "or else things might get very complicated in the near future."  
  
"Yeah." Motoko started playing nervously with the fabric of her long nightshirt.  
  
"Is there anything I can do to make things more comfortable for you?" Alicia asked, a concerned look on her face.  
  
"I'm nervous as hell just thinking about doing this right now," Motoko thought, "but when Sean and I actually get started, I think I'll feel better about it; or at least I hope I do. I guess there's only one way to find out…"  
  
Alicia saw Motoko look her straight in the eye. The gaze she gave her was a bit hesitant, perhaps even apologetic. Alicia was so engrossed in Motoko's eyes, she didn't notice the younger woman's hand reach for her own. Next thing she knew, her hand was cupping one of Motoko's breasts through her shirt.  
  
Once Motoko felt Alicia touch her, a tingle went up and down her spine. Instantly, her body started to tense up. Sensing Alicia's surprise at what just occurred, she immediately let go of her hand. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been so--"  
  
"No," Alicia said. "You wanted to do this. To be honest, I was worried that I might move too fast for comfort." She ran her hand through Motoko's hair. "We can do this as quickly or as slowly as you want."  
  
"Sean is so comforting," Motoko thought. "He constantly thinks of all of us; making sure we're all well taken care of. If he wasn't so involved with Shinobu, I wouldn't mind being with him; not one bit." Motoko blushed at the thought of being the love of Sean's life. "But I know that may never happen. This may be that only real chance I will ever get to be with him like this. I should enjoy it as much as I possibly can before I commit myself completely to Keitaro, not that there's anything wrong with him or anything…" Motoko decided to shake the thoughts of what might be out of her mind in favor of the here and now and to once again make the first move.  
  
Alicia watched Motoko stand up, take a couple small steps away from her, then turn to face her. The smile on Motoko's face was like none she had ever seen before on the normally impassive young woman.  
  
"I thank you again for doing this," Motoko said. "You have no idea what this means to me."  
  
Alicia could only nod in response as Motoko pulled her nightshirt over her head and tossed it to the side. She was wearing white cotton panties and no bra underneath, but because of what had happened moments before, Alicia knew that second part already. Despite this, Alicia found herself almost entranced by what she saw, causing Motoko to blush. Sure, Alicia had seen her naked a few times before, but never in a situation quite like this one. "My God," Alicia thought. "She's actually turning me on right now." She was a bit surprised by this. Considering that she and Kitsune had been constantly pleasuring each other over the last hour, she didn't think she had anything left that night; Motoko just proved how wrong she was. She found herself ready, willing and able for anything that might happen between herself and the sexy swordswoman standing before her.  
  
She was only half-aware of Motoko approaching her, laying her flat on her back on the futon and taking a seat on her stomach. The only thing that brought her out of her stupor was the sound of Motoko's voice.  
  
"You may start, Sean." Alicia started to move her hands toward her; Motoko could see her arms trembling for some strange reason. "Don't be scared. I'm not going to hurt you or anything for touching me."  
  
"That's not why I'm shaking," Alicia managed to say.  
  
"Then why--oh." Motoko's eyes grew wide when she realized that Alicia was just as aroused as she was, if not more so. Suddenly, a thought came to her mind. "Would it help if I touched you?" She offered.  
  
"I thought you'd never ask," Alicia responded. Motoko gently ran her hands up the sides of her body, provoking a heavy breaths from her.  
  
"Why are you acting like this?" Motoko asked. "Don't you and Kitsune do this regularly?"  
  
"For one thing, you're not Kitsune," Alicia said. "Second, I haven't done this as Alicia that often. It's still quite new to me."  
  
"Then why don't you turn back into your male body?"  
  
"Because I want to make sure nothing… unexpected happens as a result of this. Plus, the sensations I get from doing this as Alicia are better then they ever were as Sean."  
  
"Is it really that enjoyable?"  
  
"You'll know soon enough," Alicia said. She grabbed Motoko by the waist and pulled her down close to her.  
  
Motoko started to feel the tingles again as Alicia began kissing her tenderly on the neck, but it paled in comparison to the things she felt as Alicia set one of her hands into motion. At first, it caressed her cheek, then slowly went down her neck and chest until it finally reached its destination.  
  
Alicia could hear Motoko gasp as she started to gently fondle her breast. "She has such soft skin," she thought. She moved her lips from Motoko's neck up close to her ear. "How do you like it so far?" she whispered.  
  
"It's wonderful," Motoko sighed. "Please continue."  
  
"If that's what you want…" Alicia said. She moved her other hand to give Motoko's other breast the same treatment, giving both of them a few squeezes along the way.  
  
By this time, Motoko had begun to lose all conscious thought as her brain gave way to her overflowing hormones. Any words that came out of her mouth amid the gasps and moans were completely unintelligible except for two: "Sean" and "more".  
  
Gradually, Alicia increased the tempo, causing Motoko's sighs to do the same. Knowing her peak was drawing near, she decided not to deny her the final pleasures any longer.  
  
Motoko snapped her eyes shut tight when she felt Alicia tweak at her nipples almost like knobs on a radio. "Oh my God!" She thought. "This feels go good! Am I… am I…?!" That was the last gasp of rational thought her mind would have for a little while. "OH, YES!!!" She screamed, along with Sean's name as the orgasm roared through her body like a slightly more than mild electric shock.  
  
Alicia didn't stop when this happened. She wanted Motoko's first time to last as long as humanly possible. This went on for what felt like an eternity, but it couldn't have been more than twenty seconds. Eventually, Motoko went limp in Alicia's arms, releasing the death grip she unknowingly had on her shoulders. Carefully, Alicia flipped each other over so that Motoko could rest on the bed and get her strength back. After a few seconds, she broke the silence. "So, how was it?"  
  
"Oh, Sean," Motoko said after catching her breath, "it's beyond description. Thank you so much."  
  
"No problem at all, but I don't think I'm done with you yet."  
  
"What do you mean?" a confused Motoko asked.  
  
"Well, I'm going to have to clean you up now, aren't I?" Alicia said, pointing out Motoko's underwear; they were quite damp.  
  
"Oh." Motoko was curious as to what Alicia was going to do next, exactly.  
  
"First, let's get rid of these…" Alicia reached for Motoko's panties and slid them down her legs. When they reached her ankles, Motoko kicked them off herself, accidentally sending them flying into Alicia's face.  
  
"Oops," Motoko said, hardly able to keep a straight face. "I didn't mean to--"  
  
"Motoko?" Alicia said. Her voice was a serious one; one that made Motoko nervous.  
  
"Um, yes?"  
  
Alicia slowly removed the offending garment from her face and gave a strange look to the prone swordswoman. "God, I want you right now." The smell from Motoko's underwear made Alicia more turned on than she already was; so much so that she couldn't stand it any longer. Much to Motoko's surprise, Alicia crawled on top of her, the look of pure lust clear on her face.  
  
"What are you doing?"  
  
"It's my turn. It's only fair, isn't it?"  
  
Motoko was shocked. "I'm not sure if I should--"  
  
"Please, do this for me. If you do, I'll bring you with me, and I know you'd like to re-experience what just happened."  
  
Motoko was indeed interested in reaching orgasm again. Just the thought of returning to that high made her more than willing to do what Alicia requested. Alicia had done it for her, so it was only right to return the favor, and if it meant peaking again, all the better.  
  
Alicia didn't have to await Motoko's answer for long, for within seconds of making her request, Motoko began to massage her breasts, sending waves of pleasure spreading through her. True to her word, she started to bring Motoko back to the level of passion she had already attained minutes before.  
  
Motoko expected Alicia to please her like she did last time; fondle her breasts like she was doing at that particular moment, but what actually happenedwas different, and the sensations were that much better because if it. Motoko's grip on Alicia tightened as she felt hands stroke her privates.  
  
Alicia felt the heat rise within herself as well. "Oh, Motoko," she moaned.  
  
After finding out first-hand the experience of crotch stimulation, Motoko decided to respond in kind, rubbing Alicia's with her thigh, causing more moans from her.  
  
All the rubbing, squeezing and stroking continued until both of them came simultaneously, screaming the other's name. As they fell from their collective high, Alicia rolled off Motoko, landing beside her on the futon.  
  
"Are you alright?" Motoko said between breaths, noticing Alicia's almost lifeless form.  
  
"Yeah," Alicia responded quietly. "I'm just spent, that's all. I hope you can get back to your room on your own, cuz I won't be able to help you."  
  
Motoko laughed a bit. "Yeah, I think I can do that, but can I rest a bit first?"  
  
"Of course. I think I'll just end up sleeping right here tonight, though. I don't think I even have the energy to get back to Sean's room."  
  
"After being with Kitsune for as long as you have tonight and then indulging my desires, I can understand. That was certainly a wonderful experience."  
  
"I'm glad you enjoyed it."  
  
"That's putting it mildly. Why do you do these things for us, anyway?"  
  
"It's my duty as manager to make sure my tenants are taken care of. If that includes pleasuring them, then so be it. If none of you had the need, I wouldn't have done it. I'm not the kind of guy that would take advantage of somebody like that."  
  
"You have shown that many times. In a way, that's what makes me, and no doubt the others as well, like you the way we do."  
  
"It's better to have all of you like me than hate me. If that was the case, I don't think I would be able to survive. Five on one isn't exactly fair, you know."  
  
"I know. Even with your magic, if at least Naru and I were after your skin constantly, you wouldn't last too long."  
  
"…And somehow I did just that."  
  
That reminded Motoko of how Sean had been treated early in his stay. "I'm sorry about how Naru and I made you into a punching bag in the past."  
  
"Don't worry about it. I've forgiven you long ago. To be honest, I had expected nothing less."  
  
Motoko was stunned by this revelation. "What?!"  
  
"That's right. I hadn't earned your trust at that point. Sure, I didn't expect the way your treated me to be quite as harsh as it was, but I didn't exactly think you'd welcome me with open arms, either. After all, if I was in your place, I wouldn't think too highly of a guy who would just suddenly appear out of nowhere and say he's the landlord."  
  
Motoko nodded. "I'm glad you don't hold a grudge against us."  
  
"I'm glad I don't either. If I felt bitter towards everyone who ever picked on me or anything, I'd have made the evening news long ago."  
  
"I see." Motoko sat up. "I guess I should go clean up and get to bed, huh?"  
  
"That's right," Alicia said, suddenly remembering, "you have school in the morning."  
  
"I'll see you tomorrow, Sean," Motoko said, getting up and gathering her clothes.  
  
"See ya," Alicia said.  
  
As Motoko went to the bathroom to clean off not only her own, but Alicia's bodily fluids, she kept thinking about what they had done together and the conversation they had afterward. What had begun as just another night having to deal with a tortured mind had turned into the greatest experience of her young life. She knew that if things didn't work out between herself and Keitaro, she might have to call upon Sean again sometime in the future, but she didn't dread it. Instead, she knew that if it came down to it, Sean would take care of her like he did just now. When she went to bed, she fell asleep almost instantly, her last thought being of Keitaro.  
  
---  
  
Alicia was just about to fall asleep herself when her door opened and a familiar figure walked in. "Kitsune?" Alicia said; she was too tired to sound surprised. "I thought you were asleep."  
  
"That's what I wanted you to think," Kitsune said, sitting on the futon next to Alicia's still motionless body. "I heard you and Motoko talking out there. I think it's nice, what you did for her."  
  
"I'm not surprised. After all, I did the same for you, didn't I?"  
  
"Yeah, you did. Speaking of which…" Kitsune began running her fingers up and down Alicia's chest.  
  
"Kitsune, don't. I'm exhausted."  
  
An evil smile appeared on Kitsune's face. "Then you won't be able to stop me, huh?" She climbed on top of Alicia.  
  
"KITSUNE, PLEASE DON'T DO THIS!"  
  
"Scream all you want, but you can't hold me off by words alone!" A sinister laughed rang out around the room, followed by screams and pleads for Kitsune to stop that went unheeded.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXII * * *  
  
Is it just me or have I made Kitsune enjoy torture just a bit too much? Oh well. I guess this whole Motoko thing was inevitable. I've mentioned Motoko having feelings for me in chapters past (specifically chapter 15, which is what the month and a half thing was a reference to), and I wanted to get it out of the way before things got too serious between her and Keitaro.  
  
Anyway, I don't know exactly how long it will take for ch 23 to be done. (To be honest, I never do, but that's beside the point) I've had dificulty (more than usual) concentrating on where I am in the story, what with ideas for future chapters in my head, some of them inspired by other authors that I've talked to (wink wink). I've actually got ideas for about 8 or 9 chapters right now. Granted, most of them involve holidays, but they're ideas all the same. See you next time. Please R&R! 


	24. Ch23: New Day, New Possibilities

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Well, enough of the suspense, time to catch up on our little Keitaro/Naru/Motoko situation.  
  
* * * Chapter XXIII: New Day, New Possibilities * * *  
  
Monday, 10/8 6:30 AM  
  
Keitaro was unceremoniously woken up by Sean's alarm clock, which was strategically placed on the opposite end of the room. "Why does he insist on putting that stupid thing so far away?" he thought angrily as he made his way to the blaring timepiece. After the clock was mercifully silenced, he looked around to find that Sean was nowhere to be seen. "Hmm, I wonder where he is; maybe he's still with Kitsune." Keitaro got a slight nosebleed from the thought of what the two do together, even though he had participated in similar encounters himself. "It's still hard to believe that Alicia was Sean the whole time…" he muttered, shaking his head.  
  
Keitaro shook that thought from his head in favor of what had transpired the previous night. He had hoped that he would be able to come up with a solution to his dilemma overnight, but his optimism wasn't rewarded, as he still had no earthy idea what to do. "I seriously hope the others thought of something," he thought as he grabbed a change of clothes and a towel and went out to the hot spring to clear his mind. When he got there, he was glad to see that there was nobody else around. With a towel around his waist, he made his way into the water, sitting down with his back against one of the bigger rocks in the spring.  
  
"What am I going to do?" Keitaro said, thinking out loud. "Of all the people this could happen to, it has to happen to me. If only I didn't have to chose one over the other." Suddenly a thought occurred to him. "Hmm, that's an idea; maybe I should ask if I could be with both of them." He shook his head quickly. "What am I saying?! They won't accept that! There's a different way to settle this without hurt feelings or personal injury, there just has to be!" His thoughts were interrupted when he saw the door to the changing room open and Motoko step out, also clad in a towel.  
  
Through the morning mist, Motoko was barely able to see Keitaro. He was blushing, had his eyes shut tight, and looked tense in preparation for Motoko's apparently forthcoming attack. She was barely able to stifle a giggle. "Even now, he still fears for his life," she thought. "I'll have to change that."  
  
Seconds went by rather uneventfully, which made Keitaro more and more nervous. "Maybe she didn't see me," he thought, figuring he knew full well what would have happened by now if she had. Slowly, hesitantly, he opened one eye to find Motoko sitting right beside him. Quickly, he turned away, his face growing a brighter shade of red. "I'm sorry, I--"  
  
"Keitaro, look at me." He reluctantly obeyed. Motoko could see the fear in his eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you; I'm not exactly equipped to do that right now even if I wanted to."  
  
It was at that moment that Keitaro realized that Motoko didn't bring her sword with her. "W-why didn't you--" Keitaro started to say before his words got stuck in his throat.  
  
"I was actually hoping I'd find you out here," Motoko said, a slight smile on her face.  
  
"You were?" Keitaro asked, finally able to calm himself down.  
  
"Yeah. I was wondering if you thought of any ideas yet."  
  
Keitaro looked down at the water. "No, I haven't. None that you'd agree to, anyway."  
  
"I see. I haven't thought of anything either."  
  
"You know, I really wish we didn't have to go through stuff like this. Before, times were so much simpler, you know?"  
  
"But you got hurt so often," Motoko said, "and for so little reason sometimes."  
  
"I know, but at least then I knew my place around here. I knew what my boundaries were, even though I always seem to stumble my way past them, and end up paying for it."  
  
"Are you saying you want Naru and I to start beating you again?"  
  
"No, that's the one part I don't miss in the least." He gave her a smile that seemed to reassure her that he really wouldn't want to go back to that, even though it would mean having to make the difficult decision he was faced with at that moment. "Speaking of which, have you seen Naru this morning?"  
  
Motoko shook her head. "No, I haven't."  
  
"While we're on the topic of missing people, have you seen Sean? He wasn't in his bed this morning."  
  
"Haven't seen him either." Motoko figured that Sean must still be in bed in Alicia's room, but she didn't think telling Keitaro about what she did with him was the wisest thing to do. "Maybe he slept with Kitsune last night." She suddenly realized how strange that sounded coming from her.  
  
Keitaro nodded a bit. "You're probably right. I was thinking the same thing, but you know what happens when stuff like that pops in my head."  
  
Motoko nodded. She's been a witness to Keitaro's sudden nosebleeds on more than a few occasions; some of those times, she was the cause. She blushed at the thought of someone--anyone being admired by her beauty as she still wasn't used to it as of yet. She wondered it she ever would.  
  
"Are you alright?" Keitaro asked. "You look a bit flushed."  
  
"Um… yeah, I just had a little trouble getting to sleep last night, that's all."  
  
"No reason to be embarrassed about that," Keitaro said, resting a hand on her shoulder "Everyone has a bit of insomnia every once in a while."  
  
"I suppose." Motoko said, almost not willing to believe that Keitaro was that dense, but after knowing him for as long as she has, she knew it to be true. Despite this, his attempts to keep her spirits up even after something as trivial as a slight lack of sleep overshadowed that; his undying care for everyone at Hinata House was one of the reasons why Motoko grew to like him in the first place, even subliminally.  
  
"Well," Keitaro said, getting up, "I think I'll go help Shinobu make breakfast. Maybe I'll meet Naru on the way."  
  
"Okay, then." Motoko watched Keitaro leave. "If only I realized just how nice he was sooner," she thought, "he probably wouldn't have been put through as much as he has."  
  
"Why won't this get any easier?!" she said out loud as soon as Keitaro left.  
  
"You don't know the half of it," another voice said.  
  
Surprised, Motoko looked around the rock she was leaning against and found Naru there. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"You should consider yourself lucky. This is the first time you've felt the way you do right now. You haven't felt the sting of heartbreak yet; I don't have that luxury."  
  
"How long were you back there?"  
  
"The whole time. Keitaro was talking to himself before you arrived."  
  
"What did he say?"  
  
"Well, he was wondering why he always has difficult situations like this. Also, he came up with an idea that might actually work."  
  
"Then why didn't he tell me about it?"  
  
"He quickly rejected it, thinking we'd do the same."  
  
"What was the idea?" Motoko asked.  
  
"He thought that maybe he could be with both of us."  
  
"Typical guy response," Motoko said, frowning a bit.  
  
"I know, but that might be the answer."  
  
"What?!"  
  
"Motoko," Naru said, grabbing Motoko's shoulders, "he doesn't want to see either one of us hurt in any way, including emotionally. Plus, he wouldn't want to risk the one he doesn't choose to take out her frustrations on him. This might be the only thing we can do that ensures that all of us are happy; or at least healthy."  
  
Motoko resigned to her logic. "Alright, but I'm only doing this because I don't want to see you sad if he chose me and I also don't want to go through the heartbreak should he pick you."  
  
"Good," Naru said, getting up, "Let's go find him before he does something we'll all regret."  
  
---  
  
Shinobu was happily making breakfast like she usually does when Keitaro walked in the kitchen. "Hi, Keitaro," she said in her normal, cheery voice. "How are you this morning?"  
  
"To be honest, I'm not sure."  
  
The smile on Shinobu's face started to fade. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"There shouldn't be, but like I said, I'm not sure."  
  
"Do you want to talk about it?"  
  
"Well, it's like this--"  
  
"Hey, Keitaro!" Naru yelled, running into the kitchen.  
  
"Oh, Naru, I was just wondering where you were."  
  
"Look, can I talk to you for a sec?"  
  
"Uh, sure, but why?"  
  
"Just c'mon!" Naru then grabbed Keitaro by the wrist and half-led, half-dragged him out of the room, leaving Shnobu alone in the kitchen, wondering what the heck was going on.  
  
"What's going on?" Keitaro asked as Naru took him to his room, where to his surprise, Motoko was waiting for them. "Why's Motoko here?" Keitaro was thoroughly confused by what this sudden turn of events.  
  
"Keitaro, I was in the hot spring while you were out there," Naru said. "I heard everything you said."  
  
Keitaro's eyes grew wide. "You did?!"  
  
"That's right," Motoko said. Keitaro looked like he was about to faint.  
  
"And don't be so quick to reject ideas," Naru added. "You never know, one of them might just be the perfect solution."  
  
"What idea was that?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"You being with both of us."  
  
Keitaro's eyes lit up. "You mean that--"  
  
"Yes," Motoko said. "You don't have to choose between us." This time, Keitaro did faint, landing in Naru's outstretched arms.  
  
"Well, that must be a good sign," Naru said, noticing the goofy grin on Keitaro's face.  
  
"I certainly hope so," Motoko said.  
  
Moments went by and Keitaro finally came to. "You alright?" Naru asked, propping him up.  
  
Keitaro switched gazes from Naru to Motoko and back again. "Never better."  
  
"Good. Should we tell the others about this?"  
  
"I don't think we have much choice," Motoko said. "They'll probably find out eventually."  
  
"You're right," Keitaro added. "I was just going to tell Shinobu when Naru yanked me in here. I think I at least owe her an explanation."  
  
"It's settled, then," Naru said. "We'll tell everyone at breakfast. After that, we'll figure out what to do next."  
  
"Agreed," Motoko said. "We'll decide on dating arrangements later."  
  
"D-Dating arrangements?" Keitaro asked, his earlier nervousness resurfacing.  
  
"Of course," Naru said, giving him a wide smile. "What did you expect?"  
  
"Um, well, I…" Keitaro fainted again before he could finish his thought.  
  
"Not again," Naru said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"I guess he really hasn't had a girlfriend before," Motoko said, "much less two at the same time."  
  
"Seems that way," Naru muttered.  
  
--- 6:52 AM  
  
As it turns out, the trio had only Suu and Shinobu to tell at breakfast, as both Kitsune and Sean were still nowhere to be seen. All of them assumed they were still asleep.  
  
"Is this true?" Shinobu said, barely able to believe her ears.  
  
"Yep," Keitaro said, "this is no doubt every man's dream, being with two beautiful, nice girls at the same time."  
  
"Well, don't expect it to last forever," Naru said.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You'll probably have to choose one of us at some point in time."  
  
"But I don't want to see either of you hurt because of me breaking up with one in favor of the other."  
  
"Don't worry," Motoko said, "I'm sure that when that time comes, we'll be understanding no matter who you choose."  
  
"I sure hope so."   
  
Everyone continued eating in relative silence. When he finished, Keitaro got up, thanked Shinobu for the meal and left to get ready for school. Naru and Motoko followed not long after, leaving Shinobu and Suu alone in the dining room.  
  
"Isn't love wonderful, Suu?" Shinobu asked. The whole thing reminded her of how she and Sean came to be together in a somewhat less than graceful way.  
  
"Eh." Suu waved her hand a bit, seemingly bored with the whole thing.  
  
--- 2:03 PM  
  
Naru and Keitaro walked back up the front steps of Hinata-Sou together, planning the rest of the day.  
  
"So, where do you want to go later on?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Maybe just a movie or something," Naru said. "We wouldn't want to go to quickly with this, especially with you having Motoko to think about as well."  
  
"You think we should take her with us?"  
  
"I'm not sure. It might not be right for you to be out on a date with both of us at the same time. It just sounds like a bad sitcom moment waiting to happen."  
  
"Yeah, your right. Even so, I should think of something to do with her so she doesn't feel left out."  
  
"I'm sure you'll think of something," Naru said, putting an arm around Keitaro's shoulders, making him blush. Naru didn't let that go unnoticed. "Keitaro, if you plan on having anyone, let alone me as a girlfriend, you'll have to get used to things like this."  
  
"I know," Keitaro said, opening the front door. "Ladies first."  
  
"Well, thank you," Naru said, trying to sound dignified. The two shared a small laugh as they went inside. When they reached the living room, they saw Alicia slowly coming down the stairs. It definitely looked like she had seen better days. She was constantly looking around, as if expecting something to happen to her at any moment.  
  
"Hey Sean, what's wrong?" Keitaro said, noticing Alicia's completely disheveled appearance.  
  
"What's wrong? What's wrong?! It's that bitch Kitsune, that's what's wrong!"  
  
"What happened?" Naru asked. "Did she get you just now?"  
  
"No, she got me last night."  
  
"But I thought last night you were with her willingly," Keitaro said, scratching his head.  
  
"For the first hour, I was," Alicia said, not making eye contact. "After I thought she fell asleep, I went to Alicia's room to get some sleep myself, so as not to disturb you or anything, but right when I was about to… she appeared before me. For the next two hours, she would not leave me be; she just kept going after me relentlessly."  
  
"It couldn't have been that bad," Naru said, placing her arms at her sides.  
  
"Is that what you think? I just woke up…" Alicia looked at the clock. "Four minutes ago!"  
  
"Dang," Keitaro said, his eyes wide in amazement.  
  
"You're telling me. She's gotten way out of hand this time. I've got to do something about her soon or else… I don't even want to think about it."  
  
"It's just the way she is," Naru said. "She just loves to mess with people. Trust me, I've known her longer than either of you."  
  
"I don't care if that's the way she is, she's gone too far, and something has to be done!" Alicia gave a look of utter determination, but there was something else in that expression that neither Naru nor Keitaro could decipher.  
  
"Um, okay then," Keitaro said. "When that something comes to mind, we'll try to stay out of your way."  
  
Alicia calmed down a bit. "I'm sorry. I guess she's finally gotten to me. How everything going with you?"  
  
"Wonderful," Naru said.  
  
"Oh, did you find a solution to your little problem?"  
  
"Yep," Keitaro said. "They decided to let me be with both of them… for now."  
  
"Really?" Alicia said, raising an eyebrow. "I never thought you were into that sort of thing, Naru."  
  
"It's not like that!" Naru quickly said, her face a bright of red at what Alicia was implying.  
  
"Calm down, I just kidding. I know you wouldn't do something like that; at least not now. When are the dates going to start?"  
  
"We were just talking about doing that a minute ago, and we're actually planning on starting today."  
  
"Oh? And where were you planning on going?"  
  
"Just to the movies," Naru said.  
  
"You taking Motoko with you?"  
  
"No, it would just be too awkward if she came with us."  
  
Alicia nodded knowingly. "It'll probably just be an episode of DisMissed waiting to happen," she thought. "When are you planning to leave?"  
  
"I was thinking we could just stop by to get something to eat and then go," Keitaro said. "That alright with you?"  
  
"Sounds good to me," Naru said, "but I was thinking we should at least tell Motoko before we left."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Alicia said. "I'll tell her when she shows up."  
  
"Thanks, Sean," both Naru and Keitaro said as they went to the kitchen to get a quick bite before heading out.  
  
"I lost something special when Naru and I separated," Alicia thought. "And Motoko is a nice one as well. I beg of you, Keitaro, don't screw this up."  
  
--- 2:48 PM  
  
"I'm home!" Motoko said as she entered the front door.  
  
"Hey, Motoko," Sean said from the living room. Motoko followed the voice and saw that he was the only one there. "How was your day?"  
  
"Just fine," Motoko replied. "Where's Naru and Keitaro?"  
  
"They left about twenty minutes ago."  
  
"Where did they go?" Motoko asked, sitting down next to Sean on the couch.  
  
"To the movies."  
  
"So the dates have started without me, huh?"  
  
Sean noticed Motoko begin to look depressed. "Motoko, it's not as though they weren't thinking about you, they just thought that it would be too awkward for Keitaro to be out on a date with both you and Naru at the same time. Trust me, you'll get your chance."  
  
Motoko cheered up (or at least as cheerful as she usually ever gets) when she heard that. "Thanks. I'm just a bit nervous about this whole dating thing."  
  
"I know where you're coming from. How do you think I feel, having my first girlfriend at age 22?"  
  
"You're right. I should be thankful for what I have." Motoko paused a bit before continuing. "How's your day?"  
  
"I've had better."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Well, after you left Alicia's room last night, Kitsune showed up."  
  
"Wasn't she asleep?"  
  
"Apparently not. She heard us talking in the hall, so she knows what we did together."  
  
"She does?!" Motoko started to panic. "What if she tells the others, especially Naru? I'd be mortified!"  
  
"I don't think she'll say anything. After all, I did the same thing for her, so she understands what it's like to go through the mental anguish like you did."  
  
"Thank goodness," Motoko said with a sigh of relief.  
  
"That wasn't all she did."  
  
"What?"  
  
"After saying that, she went after me again. For the next two hours, in fact."  
  
"I don't see what's wrong with that. You did already spend an hour with her didn't you?"  
  
"Yeah, but in that first hour, I was actually participating, and after being with you, I was exhausted. The only thing I wanted to do was get some sleep, but Kitsune had other plans, and in the state I was in, there was nothing I could do to stop her."  
  
"Was it that bad?"  
  
"I came to almost an hour ago."  
  
"Don't you mean you woke up?"  
  
"No, I mean CAME TO!"  
  
Motoko's eyes grew wide. "Wow. I'm sorry for what you had to go through."  
  
"Don't. It wasn't your fault in the least. If anybody's, it was my own fault for thinking she actually fell asleep. Besides, I'm thinking of a way to get her back."  
  
"Do you want my help?"  
  
"No, this is just between me and her. I don't want anyone else involved." An evil smile appeared on his face that made Motoko nervous. "I think I've got it. Ooh, this is a good one, I can feel it."  
  
"You're not planning on hurting her are you?" Motoko knew Sean didn't have much of a mean streak, but she also knew that when he put his mind to it, he can be more devious than even Kitsune, and it was obvious that was exactly what he was going for.  
  
"Of course not. I would hurt any of you, but that doesn't mean I won't punish those deserving it. Excuse me," he said as he got up off the couch, "but I should get ready while the idea is still fresh in my mind."  
  
"Wait a sec," Motoko said just as Sean reached the stairs.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Where's Kitsune now?"  
  
"Heck if I know. Like I said, I've been awake for less than ah hour, and I haven't seen her in that span. She might be out barhopping again or something, though I did hear her mention something about getting a job to, quote, 'spare herself the boring days of the school year,' so that may be what she's doing."  
  
"And what about Naru and Keitaro? Did they say when they'll be back?"  
  
"They didn't tell me. I was going to tell Shinobu that they might not be here for dinner tonight, but if you find her before me, could you tell her?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
Sean noticed Motoko's expression turn unhappy again and started to return to the couch. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It's just that I wonder what those two will be doing together on their date. I might not be able to compete with her, since those two have had feelings for each other before."  
  
"Motoko, don't beat yourself up about it. Sure, those two have had something in the past, but that doesn't mean you don't stand a chance."  
  
"Really?" Motoko looked Sean straight in the eye; it looked like she was on the verge of tears.  
  
"Of course. All you have to do is put the same effort you put into your training into this. Treat this as just another challenge you have to overcome. Besides, you've already come this far, and I know you're not the kind of person that would quit in the middle of something; at least not willingly."  
  
"You're right," Motoko said, feeling better. "I just have to try my best, and if it isn't good enough for him, than maybe I wasn't meant to be with the guy."  
  
Sean saw Motoko looking at him strangely, making him feel very uncomfortable. "Um, why are you looking at me like that?"  
  
Motoko turned away quickly, blushing all the while. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking that if you weren't with Shinobu, then maybe I'd…"  
  
"Oh." This made Sean only more awkward. "I don't know what to say."  
  
"You don't have to say anything. Just knowing that you'll always be there to help me through tough times like this is enough." She gave him a peck on the cheek, making him blush. "Could you do me a favor later on, when you're done punishing Kitsune?"  
  
"Uh, sure. What?"  
  
"Well, it's just that I don't have much to wear that would be date-appropriate, so I was just wondering if you could help me with that."  
  
"Sure, I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Thank you." She got up off the couch. "I'm going to go practice for a while, see you later, Sean."  
  
"See ya," Sean said. Remembering his plans for Kitsune, he got up and rushed off toward his room. "She is finally going to get what's coming to her," he said to himself, chuckling evilly.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXIII * * *  
  
Well, that turned out well so far, didn't it? Next chapter, I'll show you how Naru and Keitaro's date goes, not to mention what I'm going to do to Kitsune. See you then! Please R&R! 


	25. Ch24: Trysts and Torture

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Well, should I be worried that most of you are more interested about what I'm going to do to Kitsune than how Naru and Keitaro's date turns out? You know, you all have sick minds! (I guess I should talk about having a sick mind, huh?) Oh well, here you go, have fun!  
  
* * * Chapter XXIV: Trysts and Torture * * *  
  
--- 2:45 PM  
  
Keitaro and Naru walked the streets of Hinata together in the general direction of the movie theater, but it was obvious that they were in no real hurry to get there.  
  
"I still remember the first time I saw you," Keitaro said, making conversation.  
  
"So do I," Naru said, trying to hold back a giggle. "You fainted standing up at the first sight of me and Kitsune, then there's that whole nosebleed thing…"  
  
"Well, you can understand why, right? I mean, showing up at the door dressed like that wasn't exactly what I was expecting. Of course, I didn't expect Hinata-Sou to become a girl's dorm, either."  
  
"If you had known that, would you have shown up in the first place?"  
  
"I doubt it, what with the way you and Motoko kept trying to get of me early on, one way or another."  
  
"Yeah," Naru said, remembering how they also tried to do that very thing to Sean, and almost succeeded in doing so.  
  
Keitaro noticed Naru's down expression and decided to cheer her up. "Of course, if I didn't come back to Hinata-Sou," he said, putting an arm around her shoulder, "I never would have met you and the others, and I'd probably still be a struggling ronin. To be honest, I don't think my life could have turned out any better if I tried."  
  
"Really?" Naru asked, tears starting to appear in her eyes.  
  
"Yeah, I can't imagine where I'd be right now if you didn't come into my life."  
  
Unable to contain herself any longer, Naru buried her face in Keitaro's chest, her tears of joy staining his shirt. "You have no idea how happy that makes me."  
  
Keitaro was a bit taken aback by this, but quickly recovered and brought her in a light embrace. "Somehow, I think I do."  
  
Naru brought her arms around him and the two stayed that way for a little while until they heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Well, what do we have here?" Both of them turned to find Kitsune there, her arms crossed and a sly grin on her face. "What's with the public display of affection?"  
  
Naru and Keitaro were so shocked they couldn't form words, but neither of them could figure out whether it was because of Kitsune's sudden appearance or the fact that she was wearing a more formal outfit then normal; drastically more formal. She looked more suited for the rat race than the horse races she habitually bet on.  
  
Finally, Keitaro's brain started functioning again. "What happened to you?" He said, a smile appearing on his face. "Lose a bet?"  
  
"Very funny," Kitsune said. "I'm actually looking for a job."  
  
This came as the biggest shock yet. Kitsune, job hunting?! They never thought they'd ever see the day.  
  
Kitsune started to frown. "It's not that big a deal."  
  
"Uh, yeah it is," Naru blurted out. "You're the most laid-back person I know and to see you like that is just, well, I can't explain it."  
  
"I may be laid-back, but I'm not stupid. I know I can't make a living on gambling alone. Besides, I have to find something to do with my time. What are you two doing?"  
  
Realizing they were still hugging each other, they quickly separated, their faces a bright shade of red. "Well, we were--" Keitaro started to say before getting tongue-tied.  
  
"Don't you know?" Naru said. "We're going out!"  
  
Kitsune opened her eyes fully. "Really? Since when were you two a real couple?"  
  
"Since yesterday."  
  
"And why didn't you tell me?"  
  
"Yeah, like I'd tell the biggest gossip in town!"  
  
"Who else knows?"  
  
"Everyone back home," Keitaro said.  
  
"So I'm the last to find out, huh?" Kitsune said. "I thought we were friends, Naru."  
  
"We are," Naru said. "There are just those things that even friends keep from each other. I'm sure you have some secrets you're keeping from me, don't you?"  
  
"Uh, right," Kitsune said grudgingly. "If you'll excuse me, I have an appointment." She quickly walked past them, then turned a corner after a couple blocks.  
  
"I swear," Naru said when Kitsune was out of sight, "she is the only person in the world who could get so bored, she goes out and gets a job."  
  
"You said it," Keitaro said. The two continued on their way until a thought struck him. "You think we should have told her about Sean? You know, that whole revenge thing?"  
  
"Nah. She deserves what's coming to her."  
  
"I just thought that since you and her are best friends and all--"  
  
"Like I said before, even best friends keep secrets from each other. Besides, it was just a matter of time before she would finally go too far. I say she deserves what's coming to her."  
  
"I just wonder what he's going to do to her…"  
  
--- 4:02 PM  
  
Slowly, silently, the door to the bedroom of the male residents opened and Sean stuck his head out. After scanning the halls for any sign of life (of which there were none), he stepped out. He stealthily made his way down the hallway until he stopped at Kitsune's door. He placed an ear to it to check if the fox was in. After being completely sure that she wasn't, he continued to the stairs and went down them as quietly as possible. When he reached the bottom, he poked his head and again searched his surroundings. In the living room, he saw all the girls there, including Mutsumi and, much to his chagrin, Sarah. All the girls that is, except for Naru and Kitsune. He knew why Naru was out, but he started to wonder where Kitsune's been all day. For the moment however, he didn't really care; it served his purposes perfectly. Satisfied, he decided to make his presence known.  
  
"Hey y'all!" he said. The others turned in surprise, not knowing he was there until just then. "How is everyone?"  
  
"We're doing just fine," Shinobu said, her usual smile on her face.  
  
"Yeah, until you showed up, dork," Sarah said.  
  
"Here we go again," Sean thought, rolling his eyes. Every time Sean and Sarah would end up in the same room, sparks would fly, and not in the good way.  
  
"Sarah, why can't you ever be nice to him?" Shinobu said.  
  
"And what are you going to do about it?" Sarah shot back.  
  
Shinobu was growing red in the face, but Sean didn't think it was because of embarrassment. Sean seemed to see this side of her only when Sarah and her wise-ass attitude were around, especially when the comments were directed toward her beloved. She balled her fists and started to make her way to Sarah to do something to her, but was intercepted by Sean. He always stopped her; he didn't want to know what she would do if she ever got her hands on little smart-aleck.  
  
"Let it go, Shinobu," he said. "We both know she's a lost cause."  
  
"You're right," Shinobu said, her glare never leaving her intended target. "She's not worth my time."  
  
For Sean, the name-calling was something that he could ignore, as he's had to put up with ridicule quite a bit over the years, but there was something else about Sarah that would always get to him.  
  
"Hey, dork!" Sarah said.  
  
Sean turned to face her. "What now?"  
  
Ever since Sarah found out Sean was a wizard (which was well before Haruka did; how she kept it from her mother for so long was anyone's guess), she would always try to test his limits, which usually meant trying to seriously hurt him. This time was no different, as Sean saw that Sarah was wielding a flamethrower against him, ready to turn him to cinders. It was always something; if not a flamethrower, than a bazooka or a machine gun or something else that could kill a normal man without much effort. Sean always wondered how she got such heavy artillery, but since she has a tendency to hang around Suu, it was a bit more understandable. Nonetheless, it was always a nuisance at the very least and if she caught him by surprise, very painful.  
  
This time, Sean saw the attack coming and was able to block the flames with ease. When Sarah shut off her weapon, she saw that Sean was completely unharmed; he was even smiling at her, which usually never happens. All she could do was wonder what his grin was about.  
  
"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah," Sean said, shaking his head. "You couldn't have picked a worse time to mess with me." He slowly approached the now trembling eight year-old. "This is becoming a great day for me and I won't let a brat like you spoil it for me."  
  
"Uh oh," Sarah thought. She didn't know the extent of his abilities, and at that moment for some reason, she didn't want to know.  
  
Sean knelt down in front of her and placed a hand on her neck.  
  
"What are you going to do to me?" Sarah asked; she was absolutely terrified at this point.  
  
"I'm going to silence you," he said. He started rubbing his thumb against her throat.  
  
"Please don't hurt me," Sarah said, or at least that what she would have said if any sound came out of her mouth. Her eyes grew wide as she realized what he meant. "I should have known he would never hurt me," she thought.  
  
Sean continued to smile; he wasn't done with her quite yet. After releasing her neck from his grip, he lifted her off the ground (Look ma, no hands!) and placed her against the wall, her feet hanging a foot off the floor.  
  
"What's happening?" Sarah mouthed.  
  
"I'm going to give you a time out," Sean said as he finished what he set out to do, leaving Sarah stuck on the wall and despite her efforts, she couldn't get free. Sean saw Sarah mouthing something to him. Granted, he wasn't the best lip reader in the world, but he recognized what she was saying right away, which only made him more glad she couldn't say it out loud.  
  
The smile never leaving his face, Sean sat down on the couch between Mutsumi and Shinobu. "There, that's better. I could never stand that girl's big mouth."  
  
"How long are you going to leave her up there?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I have it set for half an hour," Sean replied.  
  
"Well, you sure are happy today," Mutsumi said, her ever-present ditzy smile on her face. "You even smiled at Sarah. What's the occasion?"  
  
"I've been planning a surprise for someone."  
  
"Who's the surprise for?" Suu asked.  
  
"I'm not telling."  
  
"Aw, come on, tell me!"  
  
"Yeah Sean, you can tell us," Mutsumi said.  
  
"If I do, then it won't be much of a surprise, will it? Or at least it won't be for the person I intend to do this for."  
  
"Hmph," Suu said, upset that Sean was keeping something from her.  
  
"Don't worry, Suu. I seriously doubt you want to get involved in this. it's not exactly pleasant."  
  
"Oh, it's that kind of surprise, huh?" Mutsumi said.  
  
"Yep," Sean answered, his smile growing wider and a bit more sinister.  
  
Motoko nodded knowingly at this. She knew that Sean had something big planned for Kitsune, but even she was a bit curious as to what he was going to do. "Um, Sean?"  
  
"Yes, Motoko?"  
  
"What exactly are you going to do to… her?" She asked, making sure to keep the target a secret.  
  
"You'll find out… in time."  
  
Suu looked at Motoko a bit, a thoughtful look on her face. "Hey, you know something, don't you?"  
  
Motoko raised an eyebrow at her. "What do you mean?"  
  
Suu leaped onto Motoko's shoulders. "You know who he's going to play a trick on, I know you do!"  
  
"Suu, I don't know anything, now get off!"  
  
"Suu, get off her," Sean said. "She doesn't know anything."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes, now calm down before you hurt someone."  
  
As Suu dejectedly climbed down Motoko's shoulders and sat down, the front door opened.  
  
"I'm home!" Kitsune said.  
  
"Ah, you're finally back," Sean said. "You've been gone all day, I was starting to worry that you were passed out in a bar somewhere. Where you been?"  
  
"Believe it or not, I was looking for a full-time job." This got some weird looks from everyone except Sean.  
  
"So you were serious about that, huh? Are things just that boring around here?"  
  
"Yes, they are."  
  
"Well, how did it go? Inquiring minds wish to know," he said, motioning to the others, who were still dumbfounded by Kitsune's odd announcement--at least odd for Kitsune.  
  
"It went well. I've got a position at the paper as a writer."  
  
"Congratulations, Kitsune!" Sean said, getting up and approaching her. "I was looking for a excuse to give this to you." He waved his hand around a bit and a small package appeared. "Here."  
  
"Sean, what are you doing?" Shinobu asked. "I thought you and I were--"  
  
"Shinobu, remember when I said I was planning a surprise?"  
  
"But why--oh." Shinobu said, remembering what kind of surprise was in store for Kitsune.  
  
"Uh, thanks Sean. I never expected to get a gift from you."  
  
"Think of it as a thank you gift for all you've done for me--if you know what I mean."  
  
Kitsune smiled. "Yeah, I do."  
  
"What is he talking about?" Mutsumi whispered.  
  
"Those two have had some… intimate moments in the past," Shinobu answered.  
  
"And you're okay with that?"  
  
"Well, he can't exactly do those things with me, right?"  
  
"Good point."  
  
"Um," Kitsune said, eyeing the gift. "What is it?"  
  
"Open it and find out."  
  
Kitsune opened it and saw a small bottle of perfume inside. "Wow," she said. Apparently, she had never been given this kind of present before. "What kind is it?"  
  
"It's my own creation."  
  
"Wow, you did this just for me?"  
  
"Yep. Try it out, see what you think of it."  
  
Kitsune sprayed a bit on her neck. "Huh, I don't think I've ever smelled anything like this before. What is it?"  
  
"Sleeping gas."  
  
"What?!" That was the last thing she would say before she collapsed in Sean's arms.  
  
"Target incapacitated," Sean thought, reading the mission statement in his mind. "Proceed with step two."  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" Motoko asked.  
  
"She's fine, but I'm not done with her yet; not by a long shot," Sean said. Then, both he and the sleeping Kitsune vanished amid laughter that was only suited for mad scientist movies.  
  
"It's so creepy when he does that, you know?" Shinobu said. The others nodded in agreement, even Sarah, who was still stuck on the wall.  
  
--- (Meanwhile…)  
  
Naru and Keitaro sat next to each other in the theater (Well, of course they would. They are on a date, right?) watching the movie they had agreed on when they got there; a typical romantic comedy.  
  
"Is it just me," Keitaro whispered, "or are the people who make these things starting to run out of ideas?"  
  
"To be honest," Naru replied between bites of popcorn, "I think they ran out of good ideas long ago."  
  
"You want to leave, then?"  
  
"Nah, we paid for this, so I guess we should at least stay through the whole thing. Besides, just because it's been done a thousand times before doesn't mean that it won't be entertaining. Plus, it gives us some time alone."  
  
"You're right, there's nobody to bug us or anything--or at least nobody we know." Keitaro reached for his drink and accidentally grazed Naru's hand. Immediately, he moved his hand away. "Um, I--" He stopped mid-sentence when he saw Naru smiling at him.  
  
"Silly boy," she said as she reached for his hand.  
  
"It's just that I've never been on a date before, so I--"  
  
"Shut up," Naru said, still smiling.  
  
Keitaro quickly obeyed and turned his attention back to the movie, but it got increasingly difficult to do so what with Naru holding his hand and suddenly resting her head on his shoulder. Sure, they had been in such close proximity before, but until now, there had always been a serious conversation involved. There was no such talk this time; they were just close for the heck of it, and it took a little while for Keitaro to get used to it.  
  
Meanwhile, Naru was finding comfort in being so close to him. "He's still so nervous around girls in situations like this," she thought. "I guess Motoko and I will have to change that sooner or later." She was a bit surprised to find Keitaro let go of her hand and wrap that arm around her shoulder. She peeked up at him and saw him doing the same thing to her, a small smile on his face. As their sideways glances met, both of them blushed, then looked away. "I guess I'm still a bit nervous, too," she thought. "But why? I've been out with guys before. Maybe it's because I asked him out, instead of it being the other way around." The two continued to watch to movie in relative silence, but their minds were anything but quiet.  
  
--- 6:12 PM  
  
Keitaro and Naru walked out of the theater hand in hand.  
  
"That movie wasn't so bad after all," Keitaro said.  
  
"Yeah, even clichés like that can still be enjoyable," Naru added. "What should we do now?"  
  
"Hmm," Keitaro said, looking at his watch. "We should probably get back pretty soon before the others start to worry, especially Motoko."  
  
"But we did tell Sean to tell her, right?"  
  
"Yeah, but we didn't tell him when we'd be back."  
  
"Yeah, let's get back before they start looking for us."  
  
As the two traversed the streets of Hinata, a thought occurred to Keitaro. "I wonder what Sean's doing to Kitsune right now."  
  
"I couldn't tell you, but whatever it is, it's won't be pretty, considering the condition he was in earlier."  
  
"I just hope he doesn't hurt her. She may be conniving, but she's still a tenant, and neither of us would want to see Sean brought up on charges of battery or something."  
  
"He's not the violent type. I've only heard of him being aggressive a couple times, and he vented by sparring with Motoko, so if Kitsune got him so mad that he'd resort to violence, he'd turn to Motoko first."  
  
"You're right," Keitaro said as something caught his eye. "Naru, come with me," he said, dragging her with him."  
  
"What are you doing?!"  
  
"I just thought of one last thing we could do before this date's over."  
  
"And what's that?" Naru asked before she saw what he was leading her to; a photo booth. "What are you planning?"  
  
"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking we could have our picture taken, to commemorate this day."  
  
"Good idea," Naru said. "What was I thinking?" she thought. "He'd never do something like that."  
  
The couple stepped into the booth, sat down and struck their poses, which both involved the peace sign; Keitaro displaying it in front of him, Naru showing it behind his head, unbeknownst to him until he saw the picture.  
  
"Naru!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"What's with the bunny ears?" he said, showing her the picture.  
  
"What, can't you take a joke?"  
  
"Oh, I guess I can let it go," Keitaro said. "I can't stay mad at you anyway. You're too cute for that. Plus, that gives me an idea."  
  
"And what might that be?"  
  
"Oh, just something about you and you're little fantasy about rabbits."  
  
"I don't have a--wait, what are you talking about?!"  
  
"I'm not telling!" Keitaro said, running away.  
  
"Oh no you're not! Tell me what you're thinking!" Naru yelled, giving chase.  
  
"I've said too much already, bunny lover!"  
  
"Oh, you are so going to get it now!"  
  
--- (Meanwhile…)  
  
When Kitsune woke up, she found herself strapped down to a table, the only light coming from above, bathing the table she was on and not much else in a pale glow. "Wh-What's going on?!" she said. At first, she thought Sean might have taken advantage of her while she was out, but the outfit she had on before all this happened looked undisturbed, so either it didn't happen, or he was extra careful to cover his tracks. Besides, Sean was not that kind of guy, but she still wanted to know what happened--or what was going to happen.  
  
Before any more thoughts passed through her mind, the table started turning upright, stopping at a forty-five degree angle. From her new viewpoint, she could see someone approach her. When the figure entered the light, she saw Sean there, an unpleasant smile on his face.  
  
"Good," he said. "I was starting to wonder just how long that sleeping gas would last."  
  
"Sean, you bastard! What are you going to do to me?!"  
  
"You know, revenge is a dish best served cold. In this case, that's taken a bit literally."  
  
"Revenge?! For what?"  
  
"How soon you forget, my dear Kitsune," he said placing a hand on Kitsune chin. "You do remember last night, right?"  
  
"Is that what this is about?"  
  
"Yes! I wanted to sleep, but no, you had different plans for me, which must have included me passing out and not waking up until TWO IN THE AFTERNOON!!"  
  
"What?!"  
  
"That's right. You crossed the line that time, and it's not going to go unpunished. Prepare for torture the likes of which you have never known!" Sean snapped his fingers and another light appeared behind him. Kitsune could see another, smaller table that had ten twenty-ounce bottles on it, filled with a strange, light brown liquid.  
  
"What's that? Are you going to poison me?"  
  
"No," Sean said, as though it was absurd to even think something like that. "but like the perfume/sleeping gas, this is also of my own creation." He stepped over to the other table, picked up one of the bottles and swirled the contents around a bit. "You know, the pursuit of knowledge is a never ending road. There's always something new to learn. All it takes is the will and the means to go about finding it out."  
  
"What does this have to do with me?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I'm getting to that. After I came to, the only thing I could think of was how to get back at you. Eventually, an idea hit me, and it provoked a few interesting questions."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"Like how do aphrodisiacs work? What would happen if many of them were combined into a single concoction? What would have happened if I hadn't pleased you that first time? Those questions and more are about to be answered."  
  
"Is that what that liquid is?"  
  
"Yep. I researched the proven edible aphrodisiacs and mixed them together to make this. I also added a bit of magic to increase its potency and to make it take effect almost instantly."  
  
"Is that what you're going to do? Make me so horny I can't think?"  
  
"Exactly. You are going to stay strapped to that table and I'm going to keep feeding you this and see what happens. I've seen how you react to being sexually frustrated, but let's see what happens when I go a step or three past that."  
  
"WHAT?!" Kitsune said, struggling against her bindings.  
  
"Don't bother," Sean said, walking back to Kitsune's side, bringing one of the bottles with him. "You can't break free, and I won't let you loose until I'm done with you."  
  
"Hey, how am I supposed to know that stuff even works?"  
  
"You're about to try it out, that's how."  
  
"No, you try it first."  
  
"Okay, then." Sean put the bottle to his lips and gulped a little bit down. Right away, he started feeling a bit different. He began to get that feeling that most guys get, which didn't go unnoticed by Kitsune.  
  
"Alright, I believe you," she said as she saw the emerging bulge in Sean's pants.  
  
Sean had to clear his throat a couple times before continuing. "A-and that was after a mouthful. Just think what would have happened to me if I downed this whole thing… on second thought, scratch that. Even I don't want to know that one, but what will happen to you is a different story."  
  
"Oh, come on, Sean," Kitsune pleaded. "I'm sorry for what I did, so will you please let me go?"  
  
"The time for apologies is long gone. The time for action is now."  
  
"Sean, please! I don't want to feel like that again! I couldn't stand it last time!"  
  
"You should have thought of that before, but it's too late now," Sean said as he lifted the bottle to Kitsune's lips. "Now drink."  
  
"I don't want to!"  
  
"Drink it or I'll force it down your throat!" Reluctantly, Kitsune gulped a few mouthfuls down. Sean waited a few moments before asking. "So, how do you feel?"  
  
"Kinda strange. Before, it took days to make me feel like this. Now, it only took moments."  
  
"Wonderful. Now, drink some more." Kitsune obeyed, and the feeling of lust inside her grew even more, almost to where she was those months ago.  
  
"Sean please stop this before… before…"  
  
"That's what I'm going for." Kitsune finished the bottle and Sean tossed it to the side.  
  
"That's it," Kitsune said. "This is just like how I felt before, now please release me," Even she wasn't sure what she meant by that.  
  
"Oh, no," Sean said, walking to the other table and bringing back another bottle. "I'm just getting started."  
  
--- 6:31 PM  
  
Naru and Keitaro walked up the front steps, laughing all the while. "I'm so glad you were kidding about that whole rabbit thing," Naru said.  
  
"Oh sure, I wouldn't have you do something like that unless you really wanted to."  
  
"Thank goodness," Naru said. "So, did you enjoy yourself today?"  
  
"Sure did. And you?"  
  
"It was fun. I look forward to our next date."  
  
"Well, before that, I should plan one for Motoko."  
  
"Good idea," Naru said as she opened the door. As soon as she did, they were greeted by bloodcurdling screams.  
  
"Uh oh," Keitaro said. They both knew what the screams meant; Kitsune was being punished by Sean. Neither of them had ever heard Kitsune scream like that before, so whatever he was doing to her, it must have been pretty bad. They rushed to the living room, where everyone had gathered, except for Sean and Kitsune. "What the heck is going on?!"  
  
"I don't know and I don't care!" Sarah said, covering her ears.  
  
"Sean is finally getting back at Kitsune for all the torture she has given him," Shinobu said.  
  
"How long has this been going on?!" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, the screams have been going on for about fifteen minutes now," Motoko said.  
  
"And none of you went up to see what he was doing?!"  
  
"Well, we know well enough to stay out of his way when he's like that."  
  
"Like what?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"He was really happy," Mutsumi said. "He was even smiling at Sarah while he gave her a time out."  
  
"'Time out'?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sarah said, her arms crossed. "He made me mute and stuck me to a wall for half an hour."  
  
"Yep," Mutsumi continued. "I swear, he was smiling more than me today. He had this big surprise set up for Kitsune, and--" Mutsumi was interrupted by another of Kitsune screams. "--that's where it ended up."  
  
"I'm going up there," Naru said.  
  
"That wouldn't be wise, Naru," Motoko and Shinobu both said.  
  
"I don't care! Kitsune's my best friend and I want to find out what could make her scream like that!" Naru rushed off toward where the screams led her; everyone else soon followed, since they were also curious as to what Sean was doing.  
  
---  
  
Sean finished pouring another bottle of his special formula down Kitsune's throat, tossed it aside and continued his observations.  
  
"Sean!" Kitsune said. "Please stop this, I can't take it much longer!!"  
  
A magical scan by Sean proved her right. "Wow, she's so far gone, she'll probably go off at the slightest touch," Sean thought. "I think I'll give her just one more, but I should be very careful about it." He gave Kitsune another once over. She was so aroused, she was in tears. "Very careful indeed." He went over to the table and was just about to grab yet another bottle when someone pounded on his door.  
  
"SEAN!!" Naru yelled from outside. "What are you doing to Kitsune in there?!!"  
  
Sean sighed. "It was just a matter of time," he said. "I'll be right back."  
  
"Sean, don't--" Kitsune started to say before he vanished. "No, you can't leave me like this; you just can't!"  
  
Sean reappeared outside his room, where a rather large group of girls along with Keitaro stood bunched up around the door. He cleared his throat, making them turn their attention toward him. "Hello there. What brings you here of all places?" He asked, as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on.  
  
"What are you doing to her?!" Naru asked as she rushed to him.  
  
"Only what she has coming to her, that's all."  
  
"That doesn't help any," Motoko said.  
  
"Hmm, since it's well under way, I think it's safe to tell you what's going on."  
  
"Well, get to it!" Naru said, growing impatient.  
  
"Alright, alright, sheesh," Sean said, finding a good way to word what he was about to say. "Shinobu, could I ask you something?"  
  
"Uh, sure," she said, wondering why he would question her all of a sudden.  
  
"Back when Kitsune and I had our first… encounter, do you remember how she acted moments before?"  
  
"Sure, she was throwing herself at you, why?" That was a day Shinobu would never forget. It was very… educational, to say the least, and she had little interest in seeing it again after that; at least she didn't plan to for a good while.  
  
"Well, that's what happens when someone's hormones become too strong to control."  
  
"What are you getting at?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, as punishment for what she has done, I decided to make her relive that whole bad experience all over again… and then some."  
  
"What?!" Everyone said. "How?"  
  
"Well, I'll show you." Sean retrieved one of the bottles from his room. "In this container is a very potent substance."  
  
"Ooh," Suu said, almost drooling. "Can I taste it?" Sean sent it back before she could snatch it from him. "Aw."  
  
"Trust me, you don't want to try that. It's something I like to call Instant Arousal. I tried a little bit of it myself," Sean shook his head. "Man, I tell you, that stuff works. After a whole bottle, Kitsune felt like she did those months ago. I was about to feed her her fifth one when you showed up."  
  
"FIFTH?!" Naru yelled as she went back to the door and tried to force it open, to no avail. "We have to get her out of there!" She didn't want to think about what condition her friend would be in.  
  
"Aw, now don't be that way," Sean said. "She's had this coming for a while; it was last night that finally pushed me to do this."  
  
"Sean, don't you think she's suffered enough?" Shinobu asked. "I mean, you still have to face her afterwards, right?"  
  
Sean sighed and rolled his eyes. "Alright, if y'all feel so strongly about it, I'll let her go, but let me give you a warning before I do."  
  
"What's that?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Kitsune's like a tightly wound spring right now, and the slightest touch might set her off, so be very careful with her." Everyone nodded their agreement and Sean unlocked the door without moving an inch, allowing the others to enter and see the table where Kitsune was strapped down. She was twitching almost violently, struggling to break free so she could feed her desires which have now taken complete and utter control.  
  
"All I need to do is to start touching myself and open the flood gates, and this nightmare will come to an end," she thought. "But I can't break free of these stupid bonds! I hope someone comes soon!" Kitsune was so engrossed in her own thoughts that she didn't see the others rush to her side.  
  
"Kitsune, were here," Naru said, "Here to set you free."  
  
That brought Kitsune out of her thoughts, which only weakened her resolve further. "There's no time," she said. "Someone--anyone, please, touch me."  
  
"Um, maybe we should get Sean to--" Shinobu suggested.  
  
"NO! I don't want him anywhere near me!"  
  
"Well, that'll keep her from torturing me again for a while," Sean thought as he still leaned against the wall outside.  
  
"Who do you want to please you?" Naru asked.  
  
"Anyone, just do it now, please! I can't take it any longer!"  
  
Without giving it a second thought, Naru grabbed Kitsune's breasts. Keitaro quickly turned away to keep from getting another nosebleed.  
  
As soon as contact was made, Kitsune felt an orgasm that felt bigger than the bomb that hit Hiroshima in World War II. It was so big, she couldn't even scream. Minutes went by and the orgasm just kept coming. Eventually, it subsided and she became aware of everyone around her again. "Thank you," she whispered.  
  
"Sure thing," Naru said as she poked her head out the door. "Sean, get your butt in here and explain yourself."  
  
"What," Sean said as he walked in. "Don't you think that's a fitting punishment for what she's done to me?"  
  
"Not something like that!"  
  
"Naru, you are such a hypocrite!" Keitaro said.  
  
"Pray tell," Naru said through her teeth. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"Earlier today, you said she deserved whatever she got, and now you're saying he went too far."  
  
"Shut up, Keitaro!"  
  
"Naru, don't worry," Kitsune said. "I should have seen something like this coming. This is my own fault. Sean, I hope you can forgive me for doing those things to do--especially last night."  
  
"After what I just did to you," Sean said, "consider us even. Just tone down your behavior in the future, okay?"  
  
"I don't think that will be a problem. Besides, what with my new job, I'll be spending more time out of the house."  
  
"Cool, now I guess I should put those other bottles away before--" He turned to the table where the six remaining bottles of Instant Arousal should have been--there were only four. "Hey, where did two of them go?" He looked around until he saw Suu and Mutsumi with their hands behind their back, trying to look innocent. "Oh no, tell me you didn't just--" They each brought a hand forward; they were both holding a half-empty bottle in their hand. "Uh oh."  
  
Suu ran over to him and leaped at him, wrapping her legs around his waist. Mutsumi soon joined her, hugging Sean from behind. Both of them had a look of lust in their eyes.  
  
"You know what?" Mutsumi whispered into Sean's ear. "That stuff does work."  
  
"Um, I think we should go," Motoko said.  
  
"Hey," Kitsune said, still strapped down. "What about me?"  
  
"Shinobu, could you get Kitsune free for me?" Sean asked. "I'm a little preoccupied right now."  
  
"No problem," Shinobu said, releasing Kitsune and rushing out of the room, closing the door behind her.  
  
--- (25 minutes later…)  
  
The girls watched in either amusement or worry as Sean staggered down the stairs.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"You know, when Suu's hanging on you, she just doesn't feel that light after a while. Then there was Mutsumi... Could you all please do me a big favor?"  
  
"Sure, what?" Naru asked.  
  
"Please, never; NEVER let me leave any of that arousal stuff out in the open. EVER. It can lead to some--"  
  
"Oh, Sean…" Mutsumi called from the top of the stairs, holding a now empty bottle, and what she was wearing didn't exactly leave much to the imagination.  
  
"Oh no," Sean moaned as he saw a half-naked Suu bound down the stairs and grab him by the shirt.  
  
"You think we're done with you?" Suu asked. "Nuh uh." She then dragged him back the way he came.  
  
"Hey, Sean!"  
  
"What, Kitsune?!"  
  
Kitsune had a wide smile on her face. "Now we're even."  
  
"Oh, shut up!" He said as he was pulled out of sight. Nobody would see him downstairs again for the rest of the night.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXIV * * *  
  
There, you happy now?! Sorry, I didn't mean to be so mean about it. Anyway, please R&R and I'll see you next time! 


	26. Ch25: Motoko's First Date

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
* * * Chapter XXV: Motoko's First Date * * *  
  
Wednesday, 10/10 3:21 PM  
  
Sean walked back to his room after completing his chores for the day, the last of which being cleaning the floors. On the way, he happened upon Suu as she made her way energetically in the other direction.  
  
"Hey, Sean!" she said cheerfully as she went by. Sean didn't respond; he barely made a glance at her and continued on his way.  
  
After what had happened two days before, he had a gut feeling that he might never look at Suu or Mutsumi the same way ever again. It was bad enough when he had to go through Kitsune's torture, but having to deal with it in stereo for as long as he did that night was much worse…  
  
--- (Flashback) Monday, 10/8 7:03 PM  
  
About as soon as Suu and Mutsumi dragged Sean into his room and locked the door, they began removing what little clothing they had left. Sean allowed himself a glance at the table and saw that there were only three bottles of Instant Arousal left. Alarms went off in his head and he backed away when they approached him, eager to repeat what they had already done just minutes before; he had escaped them once before, and they didn't intend to let it happen again.  
  
Mutsumi noticed Sean's terrified expression. "What's wrong, Sean?" He was beyond rational thought, so he wasn't able to respond. Mutsumi was about to ask again when Suu took the initiative, leaping at Sean before he could get away, wrapping her legs tightly around his waist and planting a kiss on his lips.  
  
Upon seeing this, Mutsumi decided to let her hormones influence her actions as well. She walked up to the two and tapped Suu on the shoulder.  
  
"Yes?" Suu asked when she released a shell-shocked Sean from her lip lock.  
  
"Think you can make some room for me?"  
  
Suu thought it over a bit, nodded and climbed higher up Sean's body until she reached the top, putting the much more pressure on his back and shoulders. After draping her legs down Sean's back, she pushed his face into her crotch, but due to his prolonged brain-dead state, he didn't so much as flinch; that is until Mutsumi acted.  
  
When Sean felt a hand start to pull his pants off, he suddenly regained conscious thought. "What are you doing?!" he asked. His voice was muffled a bit by… you know, it doesn't need to be said.  
  
"What?" Mutsumi asked innocently. "You can't say you don't want to do this."  
  
"No, I can't, but not like this! Besides, you know damn well I plan to save myself for Shinobu!"  
  
"Lucky girl," Mustumi said. "But still, I want you so much right now."  
  
"It's your own fault for drinking that stuff."  
  
"Sean, please," Suu said, almost pleading. "I want you too, and I don't think I can wait any longer!"  
  
Sean was suddenly aware of what he was looking at, and also just how aroused she was. He couldn't help but wonder just how much she drank, but something in the back of his mind told him he didn't want to know. Eventually, Suu's smell started overpowering his senses, making him more and more turned on, which didn't go unnoticed by Mutsumi.  
  
Before Sean could do anything to stop her, Mutsumi removed his pants and underwear, exposing his member. After a few moments, ideas appeared in her mind, which she quickly, but quietly, relayed to Suu. After hearing what Mutsumi had to say, giggles could be heard from the foreigner, which only made Sean more concerned…  
  
--- (End Flashback)  
  
It took all of his effort just to keep both of them from going too far with him. If he had faltered even for a minute, they would have made a very difficult situation down the road; not only between Sean and the two involved, but also between himself and Shinobu, who would have been heartbroken knowing that she would not be his first.  
  
"The only good thing about that whole thing is that they used up the last of that damn Instant Arousal," he thought with a sigh. "I'm glad I don't have to deal with that stuff anymore--I hope." He shook his head as he opened the door to his room, hoping he could put that experience behind him forever. As he entered, he was surprised to find Motoko there, waiting for him. "Oh, hi, Motoko," he said. He tried to sound friendly, but anyone could tell it was forced. "What's up?"  
  
"I think I should ask you the same thing," Motoko said, seeing through his charade.  
  
"I'm just thinking about a memory I wish I didn't have."  
  
"Monday?" Sean nodded. "Were Suu and Mutsumi really that rough on you?"  
  
"Let's just say that being double-teamed isn't a good thing, no matter the circumstances. Can we please just leave it at that?"  
  
"Sure," Motoko said, trying to remember why she went to his room in the first place. Suddenly, it came back to her. "Uh, Sean, there's something I need to ask of you."  
  
"What's that?"  
  
"Well," Motoko began, her face turning red. "It's just that Keitaro finally asked me out a little while ago."  
  
"So I heard. Kitsune won't shut up about it."  
  
Motoko's blush grew brighter. "Um, I was just wondering if you could--"  
  
"--Help you with your wardrobe, right?" Sean was amused by Motoko's shocked expression. "Didn't think I'd remember that, did you?"  
  
Motoko had completely forgotten that she already made the same request in advance back on Monday. "Uh, no, I didn't. So, will you help me?"  
  
"Of course. Like I said before, I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Thank you," Motoko said. "What do you have in mind?"  
  
"Come with me," Sean said, leaving the room.  
  
"Wait, where are you going?" Motoko said, following him out to find him at Alicia's door. "Why are we going in there?"  
  
"You'll see," Sean said, opening the door and motioning for her to enter.  
  
"You're not going to force me to do something I don't want to do, are you?" Motoko asked as she stepped in.  
  
"Now you know me better than that," he said.  
  
"Sorry, just instinct is all." Motoko felt a slight twitch in the back of her mind. She turned around to see Alicia where Sean had been.  
  
"What's wrong, Motoko?" Alicia asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
  
Motoko cleared her throat, regaining her composure. "You're getting better at that. I barely felt the energy you gave off."  
  
"Well, that's how I go with my spells. It goes from creation, to fine tuning, to streamlining, so I won't need as much energy to do the same spell each time I cast it."  
  
"You keep improving your skills; kind of like me and my swordsmanship."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Just curious, but why did you change into Alicia?"  
  
"I figured you would be more comfortable about this if I did. This will involve you changing clothes, which I assume you wouldn't want to do in front of a guy, right?"  
  
"Uh, right."  
  
"That's what I thought. Now have a seat and we'll get started," Alicia said, gesturing towards the futon.  
  
"If I may ask again," Motoko said, sitting down, "why are we in here, anyway?"  
  
"When I first decided to change into what you see before you," Alicia said as she made her way across the room. "I knew I would need to get used to the clothes along with the body, therefore…" She opened her closet and Motoko was stunned at the wide variety of styles it contained. "I made it a point to try out many different kinds of outfits. I'm sure there's something in here that will work for your date with Keitaro."  
  
"But I don't think your clothes will fit me."  
  
"Don't you worry about that. With magic at my disposal, I'm better than a tailor. Now, let me think," Alicia put a hand to her chin. "You probably want something that's really middle of the road."  
  
Motoko was confused by that rather ambiguous statement. "What?"  
  
"I mean you probably want something that is a bit formal, but still on the casual side. Also, you might want something that shows off your figure a bit, but not too revealing. You don't want to give him the wrong impression, right?"  
  
"That sounds reasonable. I certainly wouldn't want him to think I don't care that I'm going out with him, but I don't want to look like I'm too eager, either. That would no doubt upset Naru, to say the least."  
  
"Exactly. Now, let's see here…" Alicia began searching through her closet, looking for the perfect outfit for Motoko. "Hmm, too skimpy… too plain… geez, what was I on when I picked this out?!… ah, here we go. I'll have to make some alterations and maybe change the colors a bit, but I think it's just the thing." Alicia showed the outfit to Motoko. "What to you think?"  
  
Motoko looked it over a bit. "That should work just fine."  
  
"Cool," Alicia suddenly became very nervous. "I'm probably going to regret asking this. Um, I'm going to have to get a better look at you so I can make the necessary changes, so if you could just…" Alicia paused, half-expecting Motoko to unsheathe her sword. Much to her relief, Motoko stood up and began removing her kendo outfit. "Thank you. I know you're not exactly comfortable with this, so I'm glad you're cooperating."  
  
"You did say it would come to this," Motoko said.  
  
"Yeah, I did," Alicia said as Motoko finished disrobing, revealing what she had on underneath. "Um, just curious, but do you plan on having those chest wrappings on for this?"  
  
"Is that a bad thing?"  
  
"Not really, I just wanted to know."  
  
"Well, I'd probably feel more comfortable about this whole thing if I did."  
  
"No problem. I doubt it would make that big of a difference, considering the date shouldn't go that far anyway." Alicia held the outfit up against Motoko and began making the changes.  
  
"Um, could I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Why do you think Keitaro waited this long to ask me out?"  
  
Alicia raised her gaze to meet Motoko's. "Excuse me?"  
  
"I mean, he could have asked me yesterday, or even the day before, but he didn't; why is that?"  
  
"Well, there are a couple things that led to that. First, there's the schoolwork both of you must get each day, so that might not leave too much free time for either of you. Second, I heard Keitaro musing yesterday while I was…" Alicia's face turned red. "…recovering from Monday night… and he seemed to have quite a bit of trouble deciding where to take you. Probably the reason why he asked you today is that either he finally thought of something, or he just gave up trying to plan it out and figured he'd just go with the flow and see what happens. Did you have anything planned?"  
  
"No. I've never been on a date before, so I wouldn't know where I would like to go, exactly."  
  
"Then I suppose it will a very interesting day for you, huh? Well, I think I'm done with the alterations, so try it on and see how it feels."  
  
Motoko put on the newly resized outfit and stood in front of the mirror. "It actually feels pretty good. Not too tight, not too loose. I just don't think the colors are right for me."  
  
"Well, I wanted to make sure that it fit right first. Now, as for the color, I think it should be something that makes it noticeable, but not too much. We don't want you to be outshined by your outfit. How this?" Alicia magically shifted the colors before Motoko's eyes.  
  
"Does It have be so light?"  
  
"Well, I don't want it to contrast too much with your skin. I guess I could darken it just a bit." The colors gradually began to do just that until Motoko stopped her.  
  
"Wait, that's good," she said.  
  
"Alright." Alicia went back into her closet. "Now, let's look at some shoes…"  
  
--- 3:49 PM  
  
Keitaro, along with everyone else, waited patiently in the living room for Sean and Motoko to arrive. Somehow, they had caught wind of Motoko's new fashion consultant, and they were eager to see how it turned out. Sean was the first one to appear at the bottom of the stairs.  
  
"Wow," he said when he noticed the crowd that had gathered. "I wasn't expecting quite a turnout."  
  
"What's going on?" Motoko said from halfway up the stairs, out of view of everyone but Sean.  
  
"Well, it seems Keitaro isn't the only one waiting for you."  
  
"What?! How did they find out?"  
  
"Like I said, Kitsune wouldn't shut up about your date, but about me helping you, I don't know."  
  
"I'm beginning to have second thoughts about this," Motoko said, nervousness becoming apparent in her voice.  
  
"Come on, Motoko!" Naru yelled. "We all want to see your new look! Don't we, guys?" Everyone else cheered in agreement.  
  
"I'm not so sure about this," Motoko said, her voice beginning to fade away.  
  
"Motoko, you came to me for my help and I'm not about to let you back away now. It could be worse, you know; I could have had you wear high heels."  
  
There was a long pause before Motoko spoke again. "…Alright," she said reluctantly. Seconds later, she appeared beside him, a blush on her face, which anyone could tell wasn't makeup. In fact, if anyone who knew her were to be asked about it, they would say that Motoko had never worn any of the stuff a day in her life; nor has she ever needed it.  
  
"Wow," Shinobu said at the first sight of the new Motoko. She was wearing a slightly pale blue skirt that ended just above the knee and an equally light pink short-sleeved shirt that, at that moment, matched her face. "You look… different."  
  
"Is that a good thing?" Motoko asked.  
  
All the girls gathered around Motoko to get a better look at her. "Are you kidding?!" Kitsune said. "You look great!"  
  
"Yeah," Naru added. "I'm not used to you looking so… feminine."  
  
"Well, that's kinda what I was going for," Sean said.  
  
"Hmm," Kitsune said, rubbing her chin. "If she continues to dress like this, then your competition just got that much tougher, Naru."  
  
"Yeah, I know," Naru said before turning her attention to Sean. "Just curious, but how did you get that outfit?"  
  
"You'd be surprised by how much stuff I have in Alicia's closet."  
  
"You think we could have a look in there sometime?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
Motoko saw her chance and decided to take it. Escaping the crowd around her, she rushed over to Keitaro, who hadn't joined the group, and grabbed him by the arm. "Let's go, while they're distracted."  
  
"Sure," Keitaro said as the two ran out the door.  
  
After they dashed out, closing the door behind him, they paused a bit to catch their breath before walking down the steps.  
  
"I just want to say," Motoko said, "thank you for not making a big deal out of my clothes like the others did."  
  
"No problem," Keitaro said. "I know how nervous you are about this."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"While Sean was bedridden yesterday, he heard me talking to myself about where I'd take you and all that. He mentioned that you're about as nervous about this as I am."  
  
"He was in bed all day?" Motoko asked, surprised. "So that's why I never saw him. Was that whole thing Monday night that bad for him?"  
  
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'd want to stay in bed too if I had three cracked ribs, a badly sprained back, a dislocated shoulder, whiplash and pulled muscles in both legs like he did. It took the combined magical efforts of both him and Shinobu just to get him in good enough condition to continue his duties today. He's probably still in a bit of pain even now."  
  
Motoko was shocked by this. "He was so injured that he could barely move," she thought. "Yet he still helps me when I ask him to."  
  
Keitaro could almost swear that he saw tears appear in Motoko's eyes. "What's wrong?"  
  
"I'm beginning to think we ask too much of him."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, he goes through so much, yet he only does anything about it in extreme instances, and he hardly ever denies a request made by one of us. I think we may be taking him for granted."  
  
"You may have a point there, but I think you should save that for when we get back, so you can tell everyone that."  
  
Motoko sighed a bit. "You're right. I need to concentrate on the here and now. Where did you plan on taking me?"  
  
"Well, since you're so uncomfortable about this, I figured we'd just go for a walk through the park and talk or something, and we'll go from there. What do you think?"  
  
"That sounds… nice. I guess a peaceful walk is just the thing I need right now." Keitaro then led Motoko to the park. Neither of them made that much conversation, but rather opted to just enjoy each other's company.  
  
--- 5:13 PM  
  
"Thank you, Keitaro," Motoko said as they approached the front steps, "for a wonderful date. At first, I was so worried about what might happen; not having my sword with me didn't help any, either."  
  
"No problem," Keitaro said. While his kept a cool composure, his mind was going a mile a minute. "Man," he thought, "ever since she confessed her feelings for me, her personality has taken a drastic change. I hope there's nothing wrong with her." "Uh, Motoko?" he said out loud.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"I know it was hard telling me about how you like me and all, but--"  
  
"What?" Motoko started to get worried.  
  
Keitaro grabbed her shoulders lightly and forced her to look him straight in the eye. "Well, I just don't want you changing your entire lifestyle just to suit me. Don't think I haven't noticed how you've acted the last few days. Sure, being new to the dating scene can be difficult; I'm going through the same thing right now."  
  
"But Naru--"  
  
"You are not Naru! Just because I happen to like her doesn't mean you have to act like her! You are Motoko Aoyama, and don't try to be anything else! If that means being a tomboy and swinging a sword around, then so be it!"  
  
"Do you really mean that?"  
  
"Of course. I've gotten used to you being a strong, confident person, and I like that about you, even when you've attacked me. Seeing you like this just doesn't seem right. Next time we go out, we'll do anything you want to do."  
  
"Even if it involves 'swinging a sword around'?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
That rose Motoko's spirits. "Okay, then. I'll start making plans, then. I'll let you know when they're ready. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go change out of this stuff; it doesn't suit me." Motoko ran up the steps toward the dorm.  
  
"Now that's the Motoko I know," Keitaro muttered to himself.  
  
---  
  
Motoko opened the door to find Kitsune and Naru there, awaiting her return.  
  
"Well, how did it go?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"It went just fine," Motoko answered.  
  
"So I guess you'll be dressing like that all the time then, huh?" Naru asked.  
  
"Hell no!" Motoko said as she walked by them on the way to her room.  
  
"What was that all about?" Kitsune wondered, raising an eyebrow. As soon as those words left her lips, Keitaro appeared in the doorway. "Okay, what just happened between you two?"  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"She just walked by us saying she wasn't going to wear that kind of stuff again," Naru said. "Did you make some smart remark about her clothes while you were out, cuz if you did--"  
  
"Hey, I did no such thing! All I did was tell her she should just be herself. She doesn't need to act like you all the time."  
  
"Are you saying there's something wrong with the way I act?"  
  
"No! I mean seeing Motoko act like that doesn't seem right to me for some reason. I'm used to you being feminine, not her."  
  
"I guess I'll let it slide this time." Naru went over to him and kissed him on the cheek. "And maybe later I'll show you just how feminine I can be." Naru walked out of the room, leaving a bewildered Keitaro in her wake.  
  
"Um, I…" Keitaro started to say.  
  
"Same old Keitaro," Kitsune thought, barely able to stifle a laugh. "The battle for his heart just gets more and more interesting."  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXV * * *  
  
What did you think of that one? Let me know. See you next time! Please R&R! 


	27. Ch26: Day of Darkness

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
And now for a change of pace...  
  
* * * Chapter XXVI: Day of Darkness * * *  
  
Alicia walked through a forest out in the middle of nowhere. "How much longer will this trip take?" She muttered to herself. She was wearing a light blue cloak and robe combo that made her look more like the daughter of Merlin from King Arthur's Court than anything else.  
  
She couldn't even remember how long or how far she had been traveling. All she knew was that she was searching for some secluded locale and that she had been alone the whole time. She didn't know why she was alone; she just was, and she had to deal with it. The only thing that comforted her was the fact that once she got to whatever it was she was supposed to get to, she could find her way home again to be with her friends.  
  
The whole trip began when some stranger came out of nowhere and handed her a map leading to some place she had never heard of, nor could she pronounce. The only thing he said when he did this was that when she got to where the map led to, something of great importance would be revealed to her. He left as mysteriously as he came, accompanied by a laugh that sent a chill down Alicia's spine.  
  
"If this… whatever it is is so important, why couldn't it have sought me out instead of the other way around? It would have saved me a whole lot of effort." The trail she had followed for days and days now had been riddled with obstacles that would have made most people give up by now if they had survived them, but Alicia was quite stubborn, and she wouldn't let anything get in her way.  
  
She looked at the map for what seemed like the millionth time. "Where the hell is this thing? According to this stupid map, I should be there by--" Her thoughts were interrupted when she spotted a clearing in the distance. "Finally." She rolled the map up, put it away and broke out in a run. When she passed the tree line, she could only stare in wonder and a bit of fear at what she saw.  
  
In front of her was a temple that looked like it had been deserted for millennia, which actually relived her, since she was terrified at what might have actually lived there. The décor on the building itself and the surrounding grounds were nothing less than creepy. Carvings of what could only have been referred to as demons were everywhere. Seeing this made Alicia really wish Motoko could have gone with her, but it was too late for that now. She wasn't about to turn back now, even though she was beginning to fear for her life and then some.  
  
Nervously, she traversed the grounds, looking around for anything that might come out and attack, but there was nothing there, which only made her more jittery. "Oh, come on," she told herself, trying to be reassuring. "There's nothing here. I'll just go in, find out what I need to and get the hell out of here!" She finally reached the front door and gently pushed against it, opening it with a loud, grating sound that made her cover her ears. When the noise mercifully ended, she looked inside to a startling sight.  
  
Inside, the temple was well lit and well kept. Apparently, whatever lived here still did, despite the outward appearance. Cautiously, she walked across the polished marble floor toward the back wall, where a rather large statue of some demon-thing stood, claws displayed as though ready to rip apart anything that crossed its line of sight. As she got closer, she saw an intricate symbol on the floor about fifteen feet in front of the statue. Not knowing what else to do, she stepped on the symbol. As soon as she did, a red light appeared from above her, directed right at her. When she looked up to find where it came from, she was horrified to find that it came from an eye of the demon statue in front of her. She wanted to run away and leave the place far behind her, but she couldn't find the strength to at that particular moment.  
  
While she was contemplating what exactly to do from there, a chuckle could be heard from all directions, even though it was only one voice. "W-What are you?" she asked nervously.  
  
"That is of no concern to you right now," the voice said. It sounded like something from the bowels of the earth. "What is your concern is what is going to happen to you."  
  
"What?!" Alicia began to tremble.  
  
"You have no idea, do you?"  
  
"N-No."  
  
The voice laughed again. "Then I guess I'll just go out and tell you. At the stroke of midnight, the world as you know it will be plunged into darkness."  
  
"Is there anything I can do to prevent this?"  
  
"Nothing," it responded with another spine-tingling laugh. "There is nothing you can do." Much to Alicia's shock, the statue before her began to move.  
  
As the now living statue slowly made its way closer, Alicia's knees suddenly became too weak to support her. "No," she whispered, unable to believe what was happening. She lowered her head to the floor, her eyes shut tight. She had a pretty good idea as to what was about to happen, and she didn't want to witness it. The sound of heavy footsteps came closer and closer until it was about a foot in front of her. The silence she heard next lasted much longer than it should have. Against her better judgment, she lifted her head a bit and slowly opened her eyes. The demon was standing right in front of her. The smile on its face was as far from friendly as one could ever get. With a chuckle, it reached down for her with its clawed hand.  
  
---  
  
"Sean, wake up!!" Shinobu yelled.  
  
--- Saturday, 10/20 8:21 AM  
  
Sean had been squirming in bed and muttering something about demons or some such thing for some time now. Desperate to wake him up, Shinobu started to violently shake him. When she did, he started to whimper as though he was nearing death's door. "Sean, please!!" Yelling had not done anything so far, so she didn't know why she thought it would work then.  
  
Finally running out of options, she decided to slap some sense into him. When her hand made contact with Sean's face, he woke up with a scream that could have woken up the dead, his eyes wide in terror.  
  
"Sean, what just happened?!" Shinobu asked, frantic to find out what was troubling her boyfriend like that.  
  
It took Sean a few moments to realize the fact that he was in his room instead of an evil temple, and that the thing that was grabbing him wasn't a horrible demon, but a teary-eyed Shinobu. As soon as he recognized her, he immediately grabbed her and brought her close to him. "Oh, thank God," he said in barely a whisper.  
  
"What's happened?!" Naru asked, bursting into his room. "I heard someone screaming in here!"  
  
"I just had a bad dream, that's all," Sean said.  
  
"You want to talk about it?"  
  
That reminded him of the message said to him in his dream; 'At the stroke of midnight, the world as you know it will be plunged into darkness.'  
  
"I'd rather not," he finally said.  
  
"Why not?" Shinobu asked, baking off a bit to look him in the eye.  
  
"I just don't, alright?!" he immediately regretted using that tone of voice. "Sorry," he added when he saw Shinobu's worried expression. "it was a bit unnerving."  
  
"Are you going to be alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so," Sean said, getting up. "Excuse me; there's something I have to go do." He walked toward Naru, who was standing in the doorway, blocking his path. "Uh, Naru?"  
  
"Oh, sorry," she said, stepping out of the way.  
  
"Thank you," he said without emotion as he walked out.  
  
"Sean, wait!" Shinobu said, following him out, but when she entered the hallway, she found it to be completely deserted, which only renewed her worry. "That dream did something to him, I just know it," she thought.  
  
---  
  
Sean suddenly appeared out on the roof. He made his way to a corner of the platform, took a seat and began to sort things out in his mind. From past experience, he knew that any of the girls could show up at any time, so he made an extra effort to keep his thoughts in his head.  
  
"That was certainly a strange dream," he thought. "And the message that… thing gave me makes me think it was more than just an ordinary dream. Something bad's going to happen tonight, I just know it. Even though it said there was nothing I could do to stop it, I can't just give up. There's gotta be something I can do to stop this whole darkness thing from happening; there just has to be…"  
  
--- 8:44 AM  
  
Kitsune looked around Hinata House in search of their missing landlord, at Shinobu's request. In fact, after Sean's vanishing act, she pleaded to everyone for help, saying that there was something seriously wrong with him and that she needed to get to the bottom of it. "Man," she said to herself. "this whole nightmare thing has gotten Shinobu weirded out. I don't know why she's so worried, though. I mean, everyone has bad dreams every so often. Hell, even I've had some in my time." That reminded her of a certain dream she's had a couple times in recent days, featuring what both she and Sean have collectively dubbed "The Treatment," something she would rather not experience again, not even in her dreams. Considering what happened, she figured Sean felt the same way.  
  
Her semi-focused wanderings led her to the roof, where she spied her target sitting in the far corner in a somewhat meditative way. He looked to be in deep thought. "Hmm," she thought. "Maybe it did affect him after all. Only one way to find out." She approached him slowly and carefully so as not so startle him. "Hi, Sean."  
  
Sean opened an eye to find the fox walking towards him. "Kitsune," he said, then closed the eye again.  
  
Kitsune was surprised by the way he responded; he had barely acknowledged her even being there. Usually, he would at least try to sound friendly, but this time around, it seemed that pleasantries had taken a back seat to the more pressing matters he had going on in his head. "Good to see you too, Mr. Sunshine," she said with a bit of a smirk. "What are you thinking about?"  
  
This time, Sean opened both eyes and gave her a mean look. "Nothing that concerns you." He knew it wasn't right to speak that way to her, but he had to keep the others from getting involved in any way possible, and if that meant telling them off, then so be it.  
  
"Hey," Kitsune said, irritation rising in her voice. "it wasn't my idea to come looking for you. It was your girlfriend's idea. She's worried sick about you right now, you know?"  
  
"Yes, I know."  
  
"Then why don't you have a talk with her or something?"  
  
"Because, if you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in a very hospitable mood right now, and I think talking to her might only make things worse, so if that's all you came here for, then it was a complete waste of both your time and mine, so you should just go about your business as though this conversation never happened."  
  
"Well," Kitsune thought. "I guess Shinobu was right. That dream must have done something do him, and I'm going to find out what it is if it's the last thing I do."  
  
"Sean," she said, "we both don't want to see Shinobu as worried as she is right now, so I think you should just come clean and tell me what's going on in that head of yours!"  
  
"What goes through this mind is my business and mine alone, and suggest you mind yours or else I have two words for you."  
  
"And what would those be?"  
  
"The Treatment."  
  
Kitsune was shocked that he would even consider doing that again. "You wouldn't do something like that, would you?"  
  
"Try me."  
  
"Uh," Nervousness appeared in her voice full force. "I think I hear someone calling me, so I guess I'll see you later, huh?"  
  
"Good," Sean said before closing his eyes.  
  
"Oh God," Kitsune thought as she made her way to the door. "This is more serious than I could have ever imagined. I've got to tell the others about this." As she opened the door, she took one last look at Sean had been moments before and saw only empty space. "Hey, where'd he go?"  
  
---  
  
"I should have known better," Sean thought, mentally kicking himself when he appeared in his new hiding place. "Going to the roof was such an obvious choice, no wonder Kitsune found me so quickly, but I doubt anyone would ever think of looking for me here."  
  
--- (10 minutes later…)  
  
"I wonder why she called us all in here?" Keitaro asked. Everyone had gathered in the living room by Kitsune, saying she had something very important to say to them.  
  
"Maybe she found Sean," Shinobu said hopefully.  
  
Kitsune sat on the couch, a look of concern on her face. "I'm glad you all could come on such short notice. There's something I must address. It's about Sean."  
  
"You found him?!" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yes, but that's not entirely why I called you here. He has gotten quite an attitude today. When I asked him what he thinking about, he talked to me like he never has before; like he was really pissed at me for disturbing him. He refused to tell me anything except that it was none of my business and that it didn't concern me. Also, there was something else he did."  
  
"What's that?" Naru asked.  
  
"He threatened to give me The Treatment if I pressed the issue any farther."  
  
"Whoa," Motoko said. "This is serious. Something's going on that he doesn't want us to know about."  
  
"I knew it!" Shinobu said. "Tell me where he is, I'll go talk to him myself."  
  
"I don't know. After our little exchange, he vanished. Besides, he knows how you feel right now and he felt that if he talked to you, it might just make things worse. I think it would be best if we all just left him alone for now and let him sort things out on his own."  
  
"But I'm so worried about him," Shinobu said, tears beginning to form in her eyes.  
  
"I know, but sometimes, a guy just has to have his space, you know? Just give it time; I'm sure he'll be fine."  
  
"I hope so," Shinobu said.  
  
---  
  
The day wore on at a snail's pace for everyone in Hinata House. After an hour of searching, they gave up trying to find Sean; it seemed as though he just fell of the face of the planet. Conversations could not be maintained for very long, and the thoughts of everyone kept turning to their landlord. It wasn't exactly a walk in the park for Sean, either. He knew well enough how the others felt, considering the place he chose for his hiding place.  
  
"I'm sorry," he thought. "I'm sorry I have to do this, but I have to think of some way to keep my life as it is. I'm no even sure this is even going to happen, but I can't take any chances. I have to do this, and I have to go it alone; I can't--no, I won't drag anyone else into this."  
  
--- 11:44 PM  
  
Night had fallen and most of the residents reluctantly got ready for bed. The only one left awake was Sean, still hiding in his hiding place, and both Naru and Keitaro, who were pulling another of their marathon study sessions.  
  
"Where do you think Sean is right now?" Keitaro asked after a while.  
  
"I don't know," Naru responded. "I starting to think he ran off somewhere without telling us again."  
  
"But if something's bothering him as much as Kitsune said, why wouldn't he tell us about it?"  
  
"That's the thing about Sean. He doesn't want us to worry about his problems, thinking he can solve them on his own. I don't blame him, considering how many of our problems he's helped solve in his time here."  
  
"I know, but still, it wouldn't hurt to just tell even one of us about it, you know?"  
  
"That's your opinion."  
  
"Well, sure, but--What?!" Keitaro knew right away that that last remark did not come from Naru. "Where did that come from?!"  
  
"I don't know," Naru said, also wondering where the new, yet familiar voice came from. As both of them looked around, something appeared from beneath the kotatsu they were sitting at. When Naru set eyes on it, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Sean?!"  
  
"Yeah?" the now 2-inch tall Sean said. His voice was quite faint, mostly due to his size.  
  
"Were you under there all day?!" Sean nodded. "Why?"  
  
"Nobody would ever think of looking for me there."  
  
"Good point."  
  
"Well, now that you've been found out, why not tell us what's going on?" Keitaro suggested.  
  
"I don't want you to get involved. Besides, I was planning on leaving pretty soon anyway; it gets really hot and stuffy under there, you know?"  
  
"Now, hold on," Naru said as she reached out for him. "Don't you care that you've made us all worried sick about you?"  
  
"Of course I care. It's just that if I told you about this, you might be even more worried."  
  
That stopped Naru's hand inches from Sean's small frame. "What do you mean by that?"  
  
"I'm sorry; I've said too much already." Sean then disappeared without a trace.  
  
"Oh man," Keitaro muttered. "I hope he going to be alright."  
  
---  
  
"Damn it," Sean said to himself as he reappeared at the hot spring, full-size. "I shouldn't have opened my big mouth. Now I've got Naru and Keitaro even more worried about me. I hope everything goes alright tonight so I can get things back to normal." He stripped off his clothes and stepped into the water. He knew a bath was the thing he needed the most at that time, since he had been sweating buckets while sitting underneath Naru's kotatsu for most of the day. "Note to self: Next time I have to hide from them, find a place not so warm and with better ventilation." He allowed himself a chuckle at that.  
  
"I guess I have no other option," He continued, his serious expression returning. "After all the time I spent thinking, there's only one thing I came up with that even has a slight chance of working." He lowered his head as he realized the dreadful truth. "I have to fight this thing." After his confrontation with Shonoko three months ago, he made a mental vow that he would never use his magic to cause physical injury ever again, but he knew full well that if he was to stand a chance against what he saw in his dream, compromises would have to be made.  
  
"I just hope," he sighed, "that if I can't stop it, that it will be merciful to the others." Of course, he kind of figured that mercy was not exactly a big part of the demon vocabulary.  
  
"No, I can't think like that. I have to beat this, I just have to. Failure isn't an option for me right now." He spent the next few minutes mentally preparing himself for what would probably end up being the fight of his life.  
  
--- 11:56 PM  
  
Motoko's eyes shot open. She was shaken from her slumber by sensing a strong presence. "No, it can't be," she said as she sat up in bed. She knew that ki wavelength all too well. It was that of Sean, and it was getting stronger and stronger with every passing second. Quickly, she got out of bed and went to where her senses led her. When she made it to the roof, she found him in deep meditation. "He never uses this much energy at once," she thought. "what could he be preparing for?" Her thoughts were broken up when she saw him stand up. The next thing she would hear would chill her blood.  
  
"Alright, I think I'm ready," he said, looking at his watch. "It's time." He started looking around, as though expecting something to happen. After a few moments of silence, he began to get irritated. "Come on! I know you're out there somewhere! Now face me, you coward!!" He knew that taunting a being from the nether regions of the earth wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.  
  
Meanwhile, Motoko was scared stiff. "Who is he talking to?!" she thought. "What could get him so upset that he would use his magic on offense?"  
  
After a few more moments of silence, Sean noticed something strange begin to happen. His eyes grew wide as light blue steam started coming off him. "What the hell?!" As more and more steam appeared, he could feel himself getting weaker. "No, this can't be…" he said just above a whisper as his legs gave out from under him. "FIGHT ME FACE TO FACE, YOU BASTARD!!"  
  
Motoko grew more and more concerned as she felt Sean's power getting weaker and weaker until it almost vanished completely.  
  
"Damn it," Sean muttered as his vision began to fade. "It was right, there's nothing I could do to stop this. My life is plunging into darkness, just like it said. If only there was something… anything…" That was the last thing he would say before he was totally consumed.  
  
Motoko gasped as she saw Sean collapse right before her eyes, but what she saw was nothing compared to what she sensed; or rather, what she didn't sense. His ki wavelength had vanished completely.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXVI * * *  
  
Please R&R. See you next time. 


	28. Ch27: Powerless

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me, though I wish that wasn't the case right now.  
  
* * * Chapter XXVII: Powerless * * *  
  
Sunday, 10/21 8:31 AM  
  
Keitaro woke up to a startling sight. Sean looked like he was sleeping peacefully in his bed, but what caught his attention was Motoko laying on the floor next to him. It looked like she had prayed and cried herself to sleep. Concerned, he walked over to her and gently shook her shoulder. "Motoko, are you alright?" he said quietly.  
  
Motoko slowly stirred from her sleep, looked up and saw Keitaro's worried expression. "Huh? Oh, I must have fallen asleep." Her gaze quickly turned to Sean. "He still hasn't moved, huh?" Her expression betrayed her concern for him.  
  
"Not since I woke up," Keitaro responded. "What happened last night?"  
  
"Around midnight, I was woken up by an immense power. I went out onto the roof and found Sean. It looked like he was getting ready for a battle--a bad one."  
  
"Are you sure he was preparing for a fight?"  
  
"He doesn't use that much energy to clean, Keitaro!"  
  
"Alright, alright, I believe you. Did he win?"  
  
"The fight never happened. Instead, a strange blue mist started coming off him, making him weaker and weaker until he collapsed."  
  
"I'm sure he'll be alright, Motoko. He always bounces back from stuff like this."  
  
"I'm not so sure. I can't sense any of his energy like I used to. It's completely gone. I fear that he might be… might be…" Motoko, not able to finish her sentence, broke down crying.  
  
"Motoko, I'm sure that whatever happens, he'll be alright. Just give it time."  
  
"If only I knew what was going through his mind so I could understand why he was acting that way."  
  
"Hmm, I think I may know how you can do just that."  
  
"How?" She sniffled.  
  
"Suu."  
  
"Yes, that's it! We'll just get Suu to make a machine that can tap into his mind and look at that last dream he had before all this happened!"  
  
"I'm glad you agree. I'll go talk to her. You stay here and look after Sean until I get back. Don't do anything rash, now."  
  
"I won't," she said as she watched him leave. After he closed the door, she slowly looked at Sean's still form. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you in your time of need. If only you could have told me about it, I would have gladly fought alongside you." She pounded her fists into the floor. "Please don't die on us, Sean!"  
  
---  
  
Keitaro made his way to Suu's door and knocked on the door. After a few moments of silence, the door opened to reveal Suu, who looked like she had just woken up. "Whadaya want, Keitaro?"  
  
"I'm sorry for waking you, but I have a job for you."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"I need you to make a machine for me."  
  
"What kind of machine?"  
  
"One that can look at dreams."  
  
"I've already got one of those."  
  
"Not the fantasy one. I want to see the dream that made him freak out yesterday."  
  
That got Suu's interest. "Don't got that. I'll get right on it. I'll be just a bit. Take him to the living room. I'll meet you there."  
  
"Thank you," Keitaro said as Suu closed the door. Strange noises could be heard from inside. Quickly, he made his way back to Sean's room, which contained a strange scene.  
  
"I'm so sorry, Sean!" Motoko sobbed as she held a still catatonic Sean close to her. "Why couldn't I have helped you while I had the chance?!"  
  
"Calm down, Motoko," Keitaro said. "From what you told me, I don't think you could have done anything if you tried. Now, go downstairs and get some rest. After what happened, I think you need it."  
  
"No, I won't leave his side!"  
  
"Then at least help me get him into the living room; Suu's working on something that should shed some light on this whole thing and she told me to get him there."  
  
Motoko already had Sean in her arms and was walking out the door. "Then what are you waiting for? Let's go!"  
  
"Dang," Keitaro thought as he followed her out. "This has gotten her so rattled. I don't think I've ever seen her like this before." As an afterthought, he added, "I hope I don't ever again."  
  
The two made their way downstairs in a way that looked like a short funeral procession. When they reached the bottom of the stairs, they could hear Shinobu making breakfast. She turned for a moment to great them.  
  
"Hello, how are you this--" She stopped mid-sentence when she recognized the motionless figure in Motoko's arms. "What are you doing to Sean?!"  
  
"We're taking to the living room," Keitaro said. "Suu's making something that will let us see that dream he had."  
  
"Why not wait until he wakes up?"  
  
"I'm not sure if he will."  
  
"What?! How did that happen?!"  
  
"All will be explained later," Keitaro answered, glancing at Motoko, who was struggling to hold back tears. "…I hope."  
  
--- (10 minutes later…)  
  
Suu arrived in the living room, her modified VR helmet in her hands. "Well, I'm done, now where's Sean?" Everyone had gathered there already, and they all, with the exception of Motoko, pointed to the couch, where a lifeless Sean rested. "Oh my, what happened to him?"  
  
"We don't know," Naru said. "Motoko saw what happened, but won't tell us."  
  
Suu looked at Motoko, who sat in a chair, her legs pressed against her chest. She had never seen her that scared before. "Looks more like she can't. Anyway, let's probe his mind and see what made him the way he was yesterday." Suu placed the helmet on Sean's head and walked over to the television and started connecting something to it.  
  
"What's that?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"A wireless receiver, so we'll all see what's going on." After she finished, she moved back to Sean. "Now, who wants to do the honors?"  
  
"I think I should--" Shinobu started to say.  
  
"No, I want to," Motoko said, standing up. It came as a shock to the others, since it was the first time she spoke in quite a while.  
  
"Um, go ahead."  
  
"Thank you," Motoko said as she got up, walked over to Sean and pressed the button Suu pointed out. Suddenly, the television displayed what they all had been wondering about for the last day.  
  
They all watched as the dream progressed. At first, it was nothing special; just Alicia walking through a forest, but things got more interesting when she reached the temple and encountered the being who resided therein.  
  
Motoko flinched when she heard a certain line from the demon. "'Your world will be plunged into darkness,'" she thought. "That's what he said right before…" She continued watching in silence as the demon picked Alicia up and was just about to rip her apart when the screen went black.  
  
"So that's why he acted so weird," Shinobu said, her eyes wide at what the monstrosity was about to do; also realizing that she shook and slapped Sean back to consciousness and how close that last part of the dream was to that.  
  
"No kidding," Kitsune added. She happened to glance at Motoko, who had a look of pure, unadulterated fear in her eyes. "Motoko?" When she didn't get a response, she moved closer to her and waved a hand in front of her face. "Hello?"  
  
"That's it…" Motoko whispered, apparently not aware of Kitsune trying to get her attention. "What that thing said before about his life plunging into darkness. Sean said the same thing right before he… he…" she gave Sean one last look before she made a dash for the door, but she was caught by the arm by Keitaro. "Please, let me go! I don't deserve to be in the same room as him. I saw the whole thing happen last night and I didn't do anything! I let him down, Keitaro, I did!"  
  
"Motoko, cool it!" Keitaro said, followed up with a slap to Motoko's face. "Now you know that's not true! Sit down!" Motoko quickly obeyed; she didn't have the strength of will not to. "You didn't let him down. He didn't want anyone of us to get involve out of fear of what would happen to us. He felt he had to deal with this thing on his own. Besides, what could you have done, anyway? What could any of us have done? According to you, his strength just got sucked out of him by some unseen force."  
  
"Well, yeah, but--"  
  
"But nothing! If you couldn't see what was affecting him, how would you expect to stop it?"  
  
"I don't know, I just don't like the fact that I couldn't sense any of his energy since then."  
  
"Like I keep telling you, I'm sure he'll be alright, he just needs to rest."  
  
"Uh, guys?" Shinobu said. Her face was getting really pale.  
  
"What's wrong?" Naru asked. "You look like you've seen a ghost."  
  
"L-Look!" Shinobu pointed at Sean, who during the conversation had regained consciousness. He sat up with a look of great confusion on his face.  
  
"Sean…?" Motoko could hardly believe her eyes. As the reality sunk in, Motoko had another uncharacteristic emotional outburst as she ran over to him and held him in another close embrace. "I'm so glad you're still alive! I thought you had left us forever!"  
  
"Motoko?!" Sean said, completely caught off guard.  
  
"How do you feel?" Shinobu asked. Sean only responded by giving another confused look, but what caught Shinobu's curiosity was the fact that even though his eyes were open, he didn't look right at her, just in her general direction. "What's wrong, Sean?"  
  
Sean closed his eyes and placed a hand on his forehead, trying to make heads or tails of the situation.  
  
"Do you have a headache or something?" Naru asked. "Maybe you need to rest or something."  
  
Sean opened his eyes and looked in what could only have been a random direction. "Keitaro, why is everyone speaking gibberish?" Everyone was shocked by this, as he hardly ever spoke English, or at least not around them.  
  
Luckily, Keitaro knew English pretty well, even though he wasn't that experienced in actually speaking it in everyday occasions--of course, this isn't exactly an everyday thing. "What are you talking about?" He responded.  
  
"Exactly what I said."  
  
"Apparently," Keitaro said, translating for the others, who didn't know the language as well. "He doesn't know how to speak Japanese right now."  
  
"But that's crazy!" Shinobu said, refusing to believe that. "Even yesterday, he could talk like he was born here!" Keitaro relayed that back to Sean.  
  
"Yes, that does seem odd…" Suddenly, it dawned on him, but he was unwilling to think it could happen. "No, it can't be," he said. After a few curious gestures, he returned his hand to his forehead and laid back down on the couch. "Oh, this is just great."  
  
"What's wrong?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"It seems all my magic has somehow left me. That would explain why I can't understand Japanese, why I can't see, and why I feel so hungry right now." Keitaro's jaw went slack when he heard that. "So that's what that demon meant by my life plunging into darkness," he muttered to himself while Keitaro told the others what he heard. "Though I would rather have that thing rip me apart than go through this."  
  
"No!" Shinobu cried. "His magic can't be gone! It just can't be!"  
  
"But it must be true," Motoko said. "Even now, I can't sense any ki within him."  
  
"But how can he function here if he can't see anything or even speak to us directly?"  
  
"I don't know, Shinobu," Naru said. "I just don't know." As an afterthought, she added, "I can't believe we have to go through this whole blindness thing all over again, and the language barrier just makes it that much worse."  
  
"You said it."  
  
"So let me get this straight; he can't understand us at all, right?" Kitsune asked, placing a hand to her chin.  
  
"So he says," Keitaro answered, curious as to what she had planned.  
  
"Hmm, that plus he can't see worth a darn means we could do quite a bit without him realizing it. Things he wouldn't normally allow." Kitsune started to unbutton her shirt.  
  
"Kitsune, you are not going to take advantage of him in his condition!" Naru said.  
  
"I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about, Naru." Kitsune broke her attention away from her blouse and redirected it towards Naru's.  
  
"Hey, what are you doing?!" Naru yelled.  
  
"Aw, come on, even though Sean can't see us, there's another guy here who can. Now that I think of it, would you like to join us, Motoko?"  
  
"What?!" Motoko said.  
  
Sean could hear Kitsune, Naru and Motoko arguing about something. Even though he had no earthly idea as to what they were saying, he did know from experience that two of them had short fuses and the third had honed her skills at being a match, and that was more than enough for him. He got up from where he was seated and slowly made his way to what he hoped was the stairs, but more importantly away from the angry voices. Before he could get to anything he could recognize by touch, something found him and he ended up sprawled out on the floor. "Oh, just my luck," he muttered. "I try to find the stairs and I end up ramming my head right into Suu's foot."  
  
Suu's latest friendly attack got everyone's attention away from Naru's and Motoko's struggle to retain their decency and Keitaro's struggle to prevent a nosebleed. "Suu, why did you do that?!" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Aw, it wasn't that bad."  
  
"But you know he doesn't heal like Keitaro does and considering that he can't use magic, doing that puts him at serious risk!" Shinobu went over, knelt at Sean's side and rested his head on her lap. "I know you can't understand me right now," she said, "but I will always be here to help you until you can see me and talk directly to me again."  
  
Granted, Sean had no idea what Shinobu said, but he found her tone of voice comforting. He smiled at her, signifying that, even in some small way, her message was received. His face quickly turned from a grin to a painful grimace when Shinobu touched the bump on his head.  
  
"Don't worry, you're going to be fine." Shinobu prepared to administer the magical healing process, but as soon as she tried to apply the spell to Sean's wound, a backlash of energy ran through her arms.  
  
"AH!" Shinobu yelled, jerking her hands away; it felt like she was being given a mild electric shock.  
  
"What happened?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'm not sure. When I tried to heal him, my spell got sent back or something."  
  
"It's bad enough when he isn't able to use his own spells, but not being able to accept the spells of others?" Motoko thought out loud. "Whatever did this to him made sure all the bases were covered, but what I don't get is how did it know there was another wizard in the house?"  
  
"Well, it knew about Sean, apparently, so why wouldn't it know about Shinobu?" Naru asked.  
  
"Point taken, but why was Shinobu left alone, while Sean was sucked dry?"  
  
"You got me on that one."  
  
"We'll figure all that stuff out later," Shinobu said. "For now, we need to decide what to do about Sean."  
  
"Um, Keitaro?" Sean said. That got everyone's attention.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Could I talk to you for a bit?"  
  
"Sure. Do you want us to be alone?"  
  
"It wouldn't make that much difference to me, now would it? If they keep quiet, I wouldn't even know they're here."  
  
"Alright," Keitaro said as he and Shinobu helped him to his feet and guided him back to the couch.  
  
"Thank you," Sean said, going over what he had to say. "I just want to apologize for what I did yesterday," he started. Keitaro proceeded to act as translator. "I just thought I could deal with this whole thing on my own."  
  
"Just because some demon threatens you doesn't mean you have to go into isolation, you know," Naru said.  
  
"How do you know about that?"  
  
"Suu modified that dream helmet of hers," Motoko said. "We saw everything."  
  
"Oh. I wasn't even sure whether it was just a dream or something more, but I didn't want to take any chances. With that in mind, I didn't want to put any of you at risk should it attack this place like I feared it would."  
  
"You thought you could take that thing alone?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I was certainly going to give it my best shot."  
  
"I know," Motoko said. "I saw you on the roof last night."  
  
"You did?!"  
  
"Yeah. Even in my sleep, I could sense the energy you gave off. I only wish I could have done something when I saw what happened to you."  
  
"Don't worry about it. If I had seen you, I would have told you to leave anyway."  
  
"And I would have refused. Nobody should have to face their demons alone, even if it's, well, a demon."  
  
"Which reminds me," Naru said. "next time you have nightmares, for heaven's sake, tell us about it! I don't want to find you under my kotatsu again!"  
  
"I don't think you have to worry about that," Sean said with a smile. "Next time I have to hide from everyone, I'll find a place not so confining; and one that doesn't require me to shrink down to the size of a cockroach." After he said that, he heard everyone gasp. "Oh, come on, it wasn't like that!" Moments went by in a eerie silence. "Guys, this isn't funny!" More silence. "Uh, guys…?"  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXVII * * *  
  
Ooh, another cliffhanger. See you next time. Please R&R! 


	29. Ch28: Beings from Beyond

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me, whether I like it or not.  
  
* * * Chapter XXVIII: Beings from Beyond * * *  
  
"Guys, what's going on?!" Sean asked as the silence around him continued. Due to his blind state, he wasn't aware that the others had their attentions drawn to something--or rather, someone who had just appeared in the room out of nowhere.  
  
Eventually, the silence had to be broken by someone who could actually see, and when it was, it was by the unexpected visitor. "Greetings." It looked to be a woman in her early to mid twenties. She wore a purple cloak around her, but it was open enough that everyone with the visual capacity could see the deep-blue, skin-tight leotard underneath. (Think Raven from Teen Titans without the hood.) She had light brown hair that reached just past her shoulders, done in a simple ponytail. All in all, she was gorgeous, which didn't go unnoticed by Keitaro or anyone who looked at him and the trickle of blood coming out his nose. At that time, she stood with her back against the wall next to the stairs.  
  
"Uh, hi," Naru said. She was the first one to regain her senses--at least among those who lost them in the first place. "Who are you?"  
  
"My name is Linda, and I am the goddess of magic."  
  
"Hold on a sec," Kitsune said. "Your name is Linda?!"  
  
Linda raised an eyebrow and gazed at the incredulous mortal. "Is there something wrong with that?"  
  
"Well, no, but I just figured that a goddess would have one of those old roman names or something."  
  
"Yeah," Naru added. "In all my studies, I've never heard of a goddess of magic named Linda."  
  
"I'm not surprised. Me and my fellow deities tend to be inconspicuous."  
  
"You mean there are others like you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Oh sure, and in more ways than you think."  
  
"What?" Kitsune said, scratching her head.  
  
"Well, let me put it this way; the group I'm a part of is a sorority."  
  
"You mean--"  
  
"Yep. All girls."  
  
"Oh my…" Keitaro said, fainting.  
  
"Well, that's all very interesting," Sean said. "but it doesn't explain why you're here right now, does it?" It seemed that Linda's speech transcended all language barriers, so a translator wasn't needed.  
  
"You're right. Back to the matter at hand."  
  
"Um, why are you here?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Well, when somebody reaches a certain level of skill in the magical arts, it's my duty to test that person to see if they are worthy of their talents."  
  
"What exactly do you mean by worthy?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, if they want to use their powers to cause harm to others or for some selfish purpose, they will be deemed unworthy and will be stripped of them permanently."  
  
"Then why have you taken away mine?" Sean asked.  
  
"The first stage of my test is to notify them in a dream that their power will be taken away from them and observe their reaction. I must say that I'm not impressed by what I saw from you."  
  
"Well, I wouldn't be either, but you know why I acted that way, right?"  
  
"I can't say that I do."  
  
"Well, considering that you are probably more powerful than I could ever hope to be, you should be perfectly capable of reading minds, correct?"  
  
"Yes, but I have a personal policy against prying into someone's mind unless it's absolutely necessary. I like to leave people with at least that much privacy."  
  
"Well, I'm allowing you to look into my head. Find that dream you sent the message into, and you'll understand why I acted the way I did."  
  
"Okay, then, if that's what you want," Linda said as she made her way gracefully to where Sean sat on the couch and placed a hand to his head. "This will be a bit uncomfortable for you, just so you know." Sean nodded his understanding and Linda began probing his mind.  
  
"Ugh, what happened?" Keitaro asked as he woke up and realized he was slumped in Motoko's arms.  
  
"You fainted," she said, propping him upright.  
  
"Oh." Keitaro then noticed that Linda was standing next to Sean. She held a hand against his forehead and had her eyes closed in concentration. "What's she doing?"  
  
"Looking at the dream he had two nights ago."  
  
The onlookers watched on quietly. They didn't know if Linda needed silence to focus on what she was doing, but they didn't want to find out the hard way. Moments went by and Linda removed her hand and opened her eyes.  
  
"I see. That could certainly take my message out of context."  
  
"Yes, it did. I thought that thing was going to attack this place and I didn't want to put the others at risk. That's why I acted that way yesterday."  
  
"Well, considering what the dream was and how you responded to it, I can say that you passed the first test."  
  
Sean smiled at his accomplishment. "What's the second test?"  
  
"The second test consists of determining how dependent you are on your magic and in what way."  
  
"Well, for starters, this bunch can be quite hostile at times, so I've had to heal myself more times than I can count. If it wasn't for my abilities, I probably would have died in a week or two."  
  
"Is this true?" Linda looked at the others.  
  
"Yes," Keitaro said. "I've been subject to many life-threatening situations myself because of a couple of these girls."  
  
"Then why don't they speak for themselves?"  
  
"Because they don't know what he said."  
  
Linda was confused by this. "What?"  
  
"I used my magic to understand Japanese when I first arrived," Sean said. "Until today, I had completely forgotten about that."  
  
"I see. Anything else?"  
  
"Well, he uses magic to make repairs to this place," Shinobu said. "Especially after one of Naru's or Motoko's attacks leaves a gaping hole in the wall or roof. I swear, if he hadn't kept up the maintenance magically, this place would either be a pile of rubble or completely bankrupt by now." The two aforementioned girls hung their heads in shame upon hearing this.  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"And probably the biggest thing he's had to rely on magic for is sight," Keitaro added.  
  
"You mean he's blind?" Linda asked.  
  
"Yes," Sean said. "As a result a one attack in particular, my glasses got shattered and some of the shards went into my eyes, causing me to go blind. Later, I worked up a spell that allows me to see and until now, it's worked just fine."  
  
"Oh my goodness," Linda thought. "he's gone through so much around here. No wonder his power grew as quickly as it did."  
  
"Well," she said out loud, "you pass the second test. Now for the final exam."  
  
"Okay," Sean said. "How many questions is it?"  
  
"Just one: What are your intentions?"  
  
Sean raised an eyebrow. "Pardon?"  
  
"What long-term plans do you have as far as magic is concerned?"  
  
"I really don't have any."  
  
Linda was surprised by this. "Not one?"  
  
"Well, I guess the pursuit of knowledge could be one. I'm been experimenting with a few things over the last month."  
  
"So you didn't get into magic with a set objective in mind?"  
  
"Aside from improving my way of live, no."  
  
"Well, you certainly are a unique individual, Sean."  
  
"I know. Do I pass your exam?"  
  
"With flying colors." That brought cheers from everyone but Sean, who just smiled. In his lifetime, he had grown accustomed to passing whatever test was thrown at him, even though a good portion of them had been in the classroom.  
  
"As if I had any doubts about passing a test of morals," he thought. "I've had them tested every day I've been here."  
  
"Now that you have been deemed worthy of your skills," Linda said, "I'll return them to you as though they were never gone." She snapped her fingers and a light blue mist appeared around Sean. Immediately, Motoko recognized it from what happened the night before.  
  
"What is that, Motoko?" Shinobu asked, noticing Motoko's smile.  
  
"His power," she said. "That's how it left, and that's how it will return."  
  
Eventually, the fog dissipated and at first it looked like it had no effect whatsoever. That is, until Sean blinked his eyes a few times and shook his head.  
  
"Is something wrong, Sean?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Nothing at all," Sean replied in perfect Japanese. He looked right at her, a smile on his face.  
  
"You mean you can see again?!"  
  
"Oh, I can do much more than that." Sean got up and as he approached Shinobu he made a motion with his hand and, much to her surprise, she was lifted up off the ground until both of their heads were at the same height. When he reached her, he gave her a quick kiss, making her blush.  
  
"I love you, Sean," Shinobu said as the two were brought in an embrace. Her smile could not have been bigger or brighter if she tried.  
  
"Me too, Shinobu," Sean said. "Me too."  
  
"Well, I guess I'll be on my way," Linda said.  
  
"Now hold on," Kitsune said. "Why do you have to leave us so soon?"  
  
"My work's done here, so there's no reason for me to stay."  
  
"You mean you have no time for play?" Suu asked. "That's boring!"  
  
"I know, but that's the life I lead; that's the way it's always been."  
  
"Oh come on," Sean said. "I'm sure you can stay for a little while and chat. There's a few things I'm sure we all want to know." The others nodded in agreement.  
  
"Well, I guess, but I can't stay too long; I have something important to do later on that I can't be late for."  
  
"That's fine. Have a seat." Linda complied, sitting on the couch, where she was soon flanked by both Sean and Shinobu.  
  
"So, what do you wish to know?"  
  
"Well, the first thing that comes to mind is why did you leave Shinobu unaffected while I was drained?"  
  
"It's not her time yet, but at the rate she's going, it won't be long until it's time for her to be tested, and if what I've seen is any indication, she won't have any trouble passing whatsoever. In fact she's probably the answer to a bunch of your questions right now."  
  
"Come again?" Naru asked.  
  
"She's the reason I made it so that he couldn't accept any outside magic.  
  
"Why's that?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Well, if I was to test Sean accurately, I couldn't have somebody helping him from the outside. Of course, if it was a life or death situation, your magic would have been accepted."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Also, you're sort of why I decided to give the test personally."  
  
"You mean you don't do this regularly?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Of course not. There are many more cases like yours in the world than you may think, and I couldn't handle them all if I tried, so I have my subordinates handle most of them, which leaves me more time to deal with special cases like him."  
  
"What's so special about me?" Sean asked.  
  
"Well, your skills gave grown at a much faster rate than most. For most aspiring wizards, it would take years for them to earn my test. You did it in six months, but from what you've told me about what happens here, I can understand why. In addition, your short stint as a teacher caught my attention."  
  
"You knew about that?"  
  
"Well, when I suddenly find five more powers--even small ones--surrounding you, what else is there to think?"  
  
"Good point. I'm honored that you hold me in such high regard."  
  
"Yes, well, I'm not the only one whose kept an eye on this place."  
  
"You're not?"  
  
"Nope. There are two in particular who find interest in what goes on here."  
  
"And who might they be?"  
  
"I don't think if I should be telling you this…"  
  
"Don't worry," Motoko said. "we'll keep this whole thing a secret."  
  
"As if anyone would believe us anyway," Kitsune added.  
  
"Alright," Linda said with a sigh. "I hope I don't regret this later on. Okay, the two other goddesses are named Amy and Stephanie."  
  
"Again with the modern names," Kitsune noted. "What's with that?"  
  
"Every few hundred years or so, we change our names a bit to better suit the times."  
  
"You've been around for that long?" Naru asked.  
  
"Some of us have."  
  
"Just how many of you are there?"  
  
"It's kind of hard to keep track of. All the time, goddesses are appearing and vanishing based on the need for each one. I think there are about 15 of us active right now."  
  
"And are they all pretty like you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yes, but each one's actual appearance varies widely. Anyway, as I was saying, Amy and Stephanie have both been watching this place like I have."  
  
"What aspects of our lives have they looked at, exactly?" Sean wondered.  
  
"Well, let's start with Stephanie, considering she's the more interested of the two. She's the goddess of love, in all it's forms."  
  
"Well, that makes sense," Motoko muttered.  
  
"You got that right," Kitsune added.  
  
"Actually," Linda continued, "to be honest, I'm surprised she hasn't made an appearance here yet."  
  
"I thought you said you all usually didn't show up yourselves," Sean said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Yeah, well, she's the exception. She has made more trips to the surface than any of us would like, though considering her personality, I'm not at all surprised about that."  
  
"Her personality?" Naru said.  
  
"Yeah. To put it bluntly, she is a full-blown nymphomaniac, and I know for a fact she likes what she sees around here, so the thought that she hasn't been here yet comes as a shock to me." Right after she said that, there was a bright flash of light coming from behind the couch. When the glow subsided, the curvaceous figure of a blonde bombshell could be seen, making Keitaro pass out in a pool of his own blood at the first sight of her; mostly because of the see-through nightie she had on with nothing underneath. "Well," Linda continued, "I stand corrected. How you doing, Steph?"  
  
"You know me," the new addition responded.  
  
"Unfortunately, yes I do. What brings you here--as if I didn't know."  
  
"Actually, I was wondering the same thing. I was expecting you back by now. The others are starting to wonder. What's the hold up?"  
  
"I was going to come right back, but they had some questions for me. Actually, I was just talking about you just now."  
  
"And why are you telling them about me?"  
  
"I'm surprised you haven't made yourself known to them already."  
  
"And why are you singling me out?"  
  
"I'm not. I was going to talk about Ami too."  
  
"Well, maybe I can help you with that," Stephanie said as she made her way to the couch and squeezed herself in between Linda and Sean, blatantly flaunting her already exposed features to him in the process, making him blush and turn his head away a bit.  
  
"Why do you have to do that to every guy you see?" Linda asked.  
  
"It's fun, that's why. Besides, I know how a certain someone gets when she's drunk." Stephanie looked at Linda suggestively.  
  
"Just talk about Amy, alright?" Linda's face had turned a bright pink.  
  
"Okay, but I think they're missing out on a great story." That got a light shove from the fellow goddess. "Alright, alright. Let's see…" Stephanie tapped her chin a couple times. "For starters, she has got to be one of the most stuck-up people I have ever seen. She's like some unfriendly librarian or something."  
  
"Let me guess," Sean said, barely able to keep his composure due to his close proximity to her. "She's the goddess of knowledge, right?"  
  
"Bingo. I mean, she and I are like polar opposites. While I try to have as much fun as I can, she's hardly ever seen without her nose buried in some book."  
  
"Sounds like someone I know sometimes, doesn't it?" Kitsune asked, elbowing Naru in the side.  
  
"Oh, shut up," Naru said.  
  
"She's also one of the most modest people around. She's has a hot body like the rest of us, I sure of it, but she never shows any of it. She even refuses to bathe with other people. I honestly think she's ashamed of her looks. I'm always trying to get her to loosen up, but it's never worked even once. I've often wondered if she's ever had a libido in her life."  
  
"Well, this has all been very enlightening, but I think it's time we left before the others start looking for us," Linda said.  
  
"Are we ever going to see you again?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Oh, I plan on coming back," Stephanie said. "I know what this guy does for you and I intend to get a piece of the action one of these days." She looked lustfully at Sean.  
  
"Huh boy," he thought, his face turning red again.  
  
"As for me," Linda followed up, "I'll be back when Shinobu's skills have advanced far enough."  
  
"Hell, maybe I'll show up with her," Stephanie said.  
  
"Think we'll ever meet Amy?" Naru asked.  
  
"I doubt it. She hardly ever leaves the house, much less pays visits to mortals, even though I know for a fact she's interested in all the… how did she put it?… educational developments going on here."  
  
"Well, I'm not surprised," Sean noted. "I guess we'll see you later, then."  
  
"Yeah," Linda said. "It was nice to finally meet you all face to face."  
  
"Me too," Stephanie added. "Though I plan on getting to know this guy a lot more in the future."  
  
Suddenly, a light went on in Kitsune's head and her usual grin appeared on her face. "Hey, Steph, could you do me a quick favor before you go?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Uh oh," Naru thought, "What does she have planned?"  
  
--- (Later…)  
  
Linda appeared in her bedroom. "They seemed like such nice people," she thought as she removed her cloak. "Normally, the people I have to deal with either plan to take over the world or constantly play practical jokes. Seeing how they act together was such a breath of fresh air; I wish I didn't have to leave so suddenly. I would like to see what Sean and Shinobu can do first hand instead of just sensing the energy every time. I suppose when it comes time for Shinobu's test, I could stay a while and see what they can really do. Besides, Steph wants to go with me and knowing her and her habits, she might be a while."  
  
She sighed as she flopped down on her bed and stared at the ceiling. "I really envy her. She lives such a hedonistic lifestyle, while I have to baby-sit spellcasting mortals, making sure that kind of power doesn't fall in the wrong hands. Plus, the only time she wears this skin-tight stuff is when she's in that kind of mood. I have to every time I leave the house! It's stupid how even I have to abide by certain rules and regulations. If I would be given the chance, I would gladly switch places with that slut in a second."  
  
She snapped her fingers and her outfit vanished from her body, reappearing beside her on the bed. "Ah, that feels much better," she said as she stretched her bare form a bit and glanced at the accursed garment she just removed. "I should seriously look into asking for a change in wardrobe for when I'm on the job. Something that still makes me look like a sorceress but isn't so… confining. Hmm, that outfit that girl wore in Sean's dream could be just the one…" She envisioned herself looking like Alicia did. She liked what she saw, but couldn't help but wonder why a girl like that would be in one of Sean's dreams as she didn't recognize her from the group at Hinata-Sou. "I should ask him about that when I get back there…"  
  
Linda's fantasizing was interrupted by a knock on her door. "Hey, Linda, you in there?" A voice from the other side said.  
  
"Yeah, Sandra, what's up?"  
  
"Well, the rest of us are in the living room. Come on out and join us."  
  
"And what if I don't want to?" In reality, Linda was going to join them anyway, but she figured she'd play around a bit first.  
  
"Aw, come on out. You can't just keep yourself cooped up in there. Get out here and live a little."  
  
"That's so funny coming from you, you know." Sandra's job pretty much involved being the grim reaper.  
  
"Yeah, yeah, real funny. Are you coming or not?"  
  
"I'll be out in a minute."  
  
"Don't be too long. Stephanie's starting to get a bit restless, and you know what that means."  
  
"Oh yeah," Linda said, getting up off the bed and making her way to her closet.  
  
--- (A few minutes later…)  
  
Linda walked into a living room wearing a sleeveless shirt and a miniskirt. When she got there, she noticed just more than a dozen other girls there, all dressed very casually, chatting it up and overall, just relaxing, with the exception of two of them. The first one that stood out--or to be more accurate, sat out--was at a desk in the corner of the room reading a book. She could easily have been mistaken for being Naru's twin sister in full study mode except that she looked older by almost ten years. (Also, the clothes weren't exactly the same, but that's beside the point.) The second one, Linda noticed, wasn't there for some strange reason.  
  
"Hey, where's Stephanie?" she couldn't help but ask. Her question was quickly answered when she found a couple arms wrap around her waist from behind.  
  
"It's about time you showed up," Stephanie said into Linda's ear. "If you had taken any longer, I would have gone to get you myself instead of sending Death after you."  
  
"Hey, you know I hate being called that!" Sandra said from her seat on a couch.  
  
"Yes, I do."  
  
"And, pray tell, what would you have done if you came for me?" Linda asked.  
  
"You really need to ask? I think you know very well what I'd do."  
  
"Oh, please," the girl at the desk said, rolling her eyes.  
  
"Amy, shut up," Stephanie said. "I've organized this whole rest period every week or two for the last 800 years because I felt sorry for all of you. I like to think I'm the only one of us who isn't stressed out by her job, and I felt it was the least I could do to help, but in all that time, you haven't taken a break even once."  
  
"Did it ever occur to you that maybe I don't want the kind of break you intend me to have? I think you should respect my choice not to participate."  
  
"For the first couple centuries, I did, but since then, I've begun to really worry about you. You need to let your hair down every once in a while."  
  
"No, I don't." Amy refocused her efforts to her reading.  
  
Stephanie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. More fun for the rest of us. Speaking of which…" She moved her hands up Linda's body until they reached her chest, where they cupped her breasts. "Hmm, no bra I see."  
  
Upon contact, Linda wrenched herself away from the love goddess's grasp, but her momentum caused her to fall on her ass. When she did this, everyone got a good look at what Stephanie was wearing, which was, for lack of a better word, nothing.  
  
"What happened to that slip you were wearing before," one of the girls said. "Not that it would have made that much difference or anything…"  
  
"I let a new friend of mine have it for a while. Besides, you know how I like just walking around naked." She went down on her hands and knees and crawled onto a prone Linda. "If I could, I'd do it all the time, but I'm required to at least wear something when I go out, but that doesn't mean I have to stay that way when I get there."  
  
"You're insatiable, Steph," Linda said as she saw the lustful look on her face.  
  
Stephanie giggled at the apparent compliment and grabbed Linda's skirt and underwear and yanked them both down to her knees. "Man, I love my job," she thought as she proceeded to relive the sorceress of her stress in her own special way.  
  
--- 10:12 AM  
  
Keitaro woke up to find that he wasn't in the living room. "Ugh, where am I?" He quickly realized he was in his room on his futon, and also that there was someone in bed with him. "K-Kitsune??!" Not only did he know who it was, he also recognized what she wore.  
  
"Yes, Keitaro?" Kitsune said lovingly, clad only in Stephanie's transparent negligee. She smiled when she saw his panicked expression. "What's wrong? Don't like what you see?" She climbed on top of him, giving him a very nice view of her features. "I don't know why you wouldn't." She wasn't surprised one bit when she saw blood spray from Keitaro's nose; most of it getting on her. "Aw, now look what you did. I'll just have to get rid of this thing, since it's all covered in blood now." She pulled the garment up over her head and tossed it to the side. Keitaro's eyes went into the back of his head as he lost consciousness for the third time that day.  
  
Sean watched the whole spectacle from a seated position on his own bed. He could plainly hear laughter from Kitsune after Keitaro passed out; he was barely able to keep from chuckling himself. "You can be so mean, Kitsune, you know?"  
  
"You first noticed that now?"  
  
"Course not, I just sometimes wonder why you torture him and me like you do."  
  
"I like the reaction it gets."  
  
"Whatever. You did your dirty work, so I think you're just about done here."  
  
"Not quite," she said as she got up and made her way to his bed. There was a look on her face that Sean recognized right away, as he's seen it many times before.  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"Aw, why not?"  
  
"I've had quite enough excitement for a while, and I don't need more from you."  
  
Kitsune started to pout. "You get me so hot and bothered and now you refuse me? What's up with that?"  
  
"ME?! I didn't do anything! It's always you who makes the first move, not me!"Kitsune's face quickly returned to normal. "So the guilt trip route won't work, will it?"  
  
"Not if I don't have anything to feel guilty about, it won't."  
  
Kitsune snapped her fingers. "Darn."  
  
"Listen, I've had a rough couple days, what with fear of a possible demon attack, blindness and incomprehension. I just want to rest and let my life return to however close to normal it ever gets around here. Ask me again later tonight; maybe I'll be more willing then. In the meantime, go get dressed before someone else sees you."  
  
"Alright, Sean. See you tonight," Kitsune said as left his room.  
  
"Huh boy, what a couple of days this has been," Sean sighed as he laid himself flat on his bed. "And this day isn't even close to being over yet." His mind started to wander, thinking about what else might happen that day; some of those things got him worried.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXVIII * * *  
  
Perhaps a bit anti-climactic, but it gives an opening to some very interesting situations in the future, don't you think? Anyway, the next few chapters will focus around the various holidays and other events that are coming up in the story's timeline. Until then, please R&R. 


	30. Ch29: Halloween at Hinata

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina or any of the other copyrighted names mentioned in this chapter.  
  
Whew, that one took a little while to make, didn't it? Well, here's the first of the many holiday chapters lined up for you.  
  
* * * Chapter XXIX: Halloween at Hinata * * *  
  
Monday, 10/29 7:22 AM  
  
"Hey y'all!" Sean said as he entered the dining room to find everyone gathered there for breakfast. Shinobu was just about to serve the food she had prepared. "Here, let me help you with that."  
  
"Thanks," Shinobu said. In all honesty, she could have and would have done it herself, but she could never turn down one of Sean's offers to help.  
  
"So, how's everyone doing this morning?" Sean asked as he started placing the food in front of everyone.  
  
"Oh, you know, same old, same old," Naru said. "School and all that stuff."  
  
"Don't I know it. I've had to deal with it for longer than I'd like, but believe you me, if all that led to me showing up here, it was more than worth the effort."  
  
"You have any idea how corny that sounds?"  
  
"Yeah, I do," he said, rolling his eyes. "But it is true, despite that." He finished helping Shinobu serve the food and then took a seat between her and Keitaro.  
  
"What's everyone gonna be for Halloween?" Suu asked cheerfully between her usual heaping bites.  
  
"I'm not quite sure yet," Keitaro said. "What with all the crazy things that go on around here on a regular basis together with the schoolwork I get, I haven't had much time to think about it."  
  
"I've got a couple ideas going through my head right now," Sean said.  
  
As the discussion went around the table, some of them were on the fence as to what they would dress up as, and those that did know wanted to keep it a secret so it would be a surprise. Eventually, it was Motoko's turn.  
  
"I'm not going to dress up as anything," she said after she was asked.  
  
"Why not?" Sean asked.  
  
"It's childish, that's why."  
  
"Oh, come on, you mean you haven't had a single Halloween costume?"  
  
"Sure I have, but that was when I was too young to take up the sword. Since then, I thought it was trivial to do such things."  
  
"Well, trivial or not, it's not good to be all serious all the time," Kitsune said.  
  
"Now, hold on, Kitsune," Keitaro said in Motoko's defense. "She's come a long way as far as that's concerned, but if she doesn't want to, we shouldn't force her it down her throat."  
  
"That's right, Keitaro," Sean said. "but she shouldn't be left out. I'll try to think of something she may agree to." He turned to Motoko. "Is that all right?"  
  
"I suppose I'll give it a chance, but if I don't like what you propose to do, I don't have to go through with it, got that?"  
  
"All I ask is that you consider it. I'll try not to disappoint you."  
  
The rest of breakfast was spent kicking around ideas for Motoko's costume. Some of them were interesting, but a certain few (suggested by Kitsune, of course) just caused her face to turn bright red. At one point, she couldn't stand all the attention she was getting. "I think I've heard enough," she said, standing up. "I thank you for the input, but I seriously doubt if any of them will work for me."  
  
"Don't worry, Motoko," Sean said as she walked out of the room. "I'll try to think of something more reasonable by the time you get back from school today."  
  
"That would be greatly appreciated, considering some of the suggestions I've heard just now," Motoko said, glaring at Kitsune before she was out of sight.  
  
"…What?" Kitsune asked as she saw similar looks directed at her from around the table. "You don't think she would look good as a Playboy bunny?"  
  
"You can be so insensitive, you know that?" Sean said as he got up. "Excuse me. I'm going to have a chat with her for a bit." He walked out in the same direction Motoko did, though he was noticeably slower than she was; he had a good idea as to where she would go, and that she would be there for a while if she was feeling stressed.  
  
Sure enough, when he got to the roof, he found Motoko there swinging her sword around, apparently unaware of his presence. When he saw her pause a bit in her routine, he decided to speak up.  
  
"I'm sure she means well, Motoko," he said.  
  
Motoko turned around quickly at the sound of his voice. "I'm well aware of that; I just think her views are very distorted."  
  
"Sure, compared to yours, but for her it's just par for the course. Trust me, I for one have no intentions of having you wearing things like that, knowing how you feel about it."  
  
"Thank you."  
  
"You mind if I watch you practice? It might give a some ideas; better ones"  
  
"That's fine, just try not to distract me, or I might lash out without thinking."  
  
"No problem," Sean said as he took a seat in the corner of the platform. "Would it help if I turned invisible? I know how hard it is to do certain things when you have an audience; or at least keep a straight face."  
  
"Yes, that would help greatly."  
  
"I promise to stay out of your way." Sean vanished from sight and Motoko resumed her workout unhindered.  
  
"Damn," he thought. "I keep forgetting how graceful she is when she does all this kendo stuff; especially since I've stopped being on the receiving end of it."  
  
Fifteen minutes went by and Motoko finally concluded her exercises. She wiped the sweat from her brow with one hand and sheathed her sword with the other. "Alright, Sean, I'm done. You can turn visible now." She looked around, but saw nobody. "Sean? Are you still here?"  
  
"Oh, sorry," Sean's voice said. Motoko turned her gaze in the direction the sound came from and she watched Sean slowly rematerialize. "My brain must have stopped working for a while. I guess you had me under a spell of your own, huh?" He couldn't help but smile as he saw Motoko's face turn pink.  
  
"So," Motoko said while mentally trying to force the color from her cheeks--and having a tough time doing it. "Have you thought of anything for this whole Halloween thing?"  
  
This time, it was Sean's turn to blush. "Well, to be honest, I was too mesmerized by the show you just put on to have much in the way of rational thought, but I promise I'll have something by this afternoon."  
  
"Uh, thanks, I think," Motoko said as she started to leave the roof, but stopped when she saw that Sean still hadn't moved. "You coming?"  
  
"I'll be down in a minute." Motoko nodded her understanding and left him alone with his thoughts. "Oh man," he thought as he placed a hand to his forehead. "If she could read my mind, I could only guess as to how many times she would have killed me by now, even with my magic protecting me. I'm so glad I can keep these thoughts I get from becoming actions."  
  
--- 11:24 AM  
  
"A trip to the hot springs is just what I need right now," Kitsune said to herself as she changed out of her clothes and into a towel. For the last three hours and them some, she had been working on her article for the newspaper, and her back had become quite stiff in the process. "Just a quick dip to sooth my muscles and then back to work…" She snickered a bit. "'Back to work.' I can't believe I've gotten used to saying that."  
  
When she opened the door to the spring, she found Alicia there sunbathing. From the sheen her body possessed, it looked like she hadn't been out of the water for too long. "Well, well, what do we have here?" Kitsune said.  
  
"Hey, Kitsune," Alicia said as she moved her head just enough to see her visitor.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Kitsune thought. "Sean has definitely gotten used to that body." In the past, when someone found Alicia there, she would at least make some attempt to cover herself up, but in recent days, that hasn't happened. "And I don't blame him one bit, either."  
  
"Whatcha doin'?" she asked out loud.  
  
"Oh, nothing. Just letting myself air dry. I was going to hang myself out on the clothesline, but it wouldn't have been that comfortable. It's just as well; I didn't feel like showing off my assets to the entire town today anyway."  
  
"Aren't you even a bit cold? I mean, it's not exactly the best time of the year to be exposed to the elements like that."  
  
"It's a bit chilly, I'll grant you that, but it actually feels kinda nice if taken in small doses. If it helps, I don't plan on doing this when winter comes. I don't want to get frozen or anything."  
  
"That's smart. Mind if I join you?"  
  
"Not at all." Alicia watched as Kitsune made her way to the water, pausing only to let the towel around her fall to the ground. "What brings you out here, Kitsune?"  
  
"I have to have permission to be out here now?"  
  
"Nah, just curious."  
  
"I'm just taking a break from work. I won't be here for too long."  
  
"Oh yeah, that's right, you have a job now, don't you?" Alicia said, smiling.  
  
"You're never going to let that die, are you?"  
  
"I will eventually. I surprised at you; you can dish it out the comments left and right, but you can't take it."  
  
"Whatever. What's going on with you?"  
  
"Well," Alicia began, flipping herself over to get her back some sun. She rested her chin on her arms. "I've been trying to think of a costume for Motoko--it's been difficult."  
  
"I'm telling ya, she would look great as a Playboy bunny."  
  
"And I'm telling you you're out of your mind if you think she would ever consider agreeing to that. Besides, that's not what I meant."  
  
"Then what did you mean?"  
  
"Well, I was watching her practice this morning, and--"  
  
"You're having naughty thoughts about her, aren't you?" Kitsune asked, a grin appearing on her face.  
  
"Uh, you can put it that way, but don't you dare tell Motoko that or else I won't be long for this world."  
  
"Don't be so sure. She been more understanding as of late."  
  
"Not if she sees what I'm thinking." She lifted her chin off her hands and replaced it with her forehead. "The things I have to put of with," she muttered.  
  
"Hey, I didn't do anything!"  
  
"I'm not talking about you."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"I have to think of something that Motoko would agree to," Alicia thought out loud with a sigh. "It'll probably end up being a warrior of some sort."  
  
"Well, that's boring," Kitsune commented. "She's already a warrior. You should have her be something she's not."  
  
"As boring as it may sound, I want her to be as comfortable with this as possible."  
  
"Whatever."  
  
The next few minutes went by in relative silence, with Alicia trying to keep her mind on topic, and when she could, trying to think of a suitable costume for the resident swordswoman. Meanwhile, Kitsune relaxed in the water, letting her escape from the working world for the time being, which was why she went out there in the first place.  
  
After a while, Kitsune noticed Alicia get up and start heading for the door. "Where are you off to?"  
  
"My room. I'm going to see if I can find something on the internet for Motoko. I'm also going to fine tune my ideas for my own costume."  
  
"Alright, see you later."  
  
"See ya," Alicia said as entered the dorm. "I also realize," she thought as she made her way to her room to get dressed. "that thinking about Motoko while I'm naked probably isn't the smartest thing in the world to do with my time. Especially thinking about her like that."  
  
--- 3:05 PM  
  
"I'm home!" Motoko said as she entered the dorm after a hard day at school. Throughout the day, her mind was clouded with thoughts of what costume Sean would eventually think of--and what her reaction to it would be. To put it simply, she was hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst.  
  
"Hey Motoko," Kitsune said, looking at her from her seated position on the couch. "How was school?"  
  
"Rough," Motoko said with a sigh. "I found it almost impossible to concentrate on what was being said in class. Do you know if Sean thought of anything yet?"  
  
"No I don't, but what I do know is that he's been thinking about you all day long."  
  
Seeing the grin Kitsune gave her that sent a shiver down Motoko's spine. "Um, do I want to know what he was thinking about, exactly?"  
  
"He didn't say too much, but nevertheless, he made me promise not to tell you anything, for fear of what you'd do to him."  
  
"I see," Motoko said as she went up the stairs toward Sean's room. "So it's confirmed," she thought. "He does think about that sort of thing after all. He may be a man of morals, but he is still a man; a man with perverted thoughts consistently running through his head.. At least he can keep his emotions contained when he needs to." She couldn't help but wonder as to what Sean's fantasies included as she opened the door to Sean's room to find Keitaro at the table, doing schoolwork. "Is Sean here?" She saw him look up at her for a moment, smile, then point in the direction of Alicia's room. "Thank you," she said, closing the door.  
  
She slowly, almost hesitantly, walked the short distance to Alicia's door. As she raised a hand in preparation to open it, a thought occurred to her. "Maybe I should reconsider doing this whole costume thing. I know everyone means well, but this might end up with me being humiliated." She quickly shook her head of her nagging doubt. "What am I thinking? Sean has always held my best interest in mind when he does these things. Besides, even if I don't agree to this, I know he'll understand." Taking a deep breath, she opened the door to her destiny.  
  
Much to her surprise, Motoko saw Alicia calmly working at her laptop, completely oblivious to her presence--that is, until Motoko cleared her throat.  
  
"Oh, hey," Alicia said, looking at who just walked in. "How long were you standing there?"  
  
"I just got here."  
  
"That's good. I wouldn't want to keep you waiting or anything."  
  
"You mean you've thought of something?"  
  
"I honestly think I have, and I believe you will agree to this whole-heartedly."  
  
"Really?" Motoko was surprised by the confidence he had in his plan.  
  
"Yes. Have a look."  
  
Motoko made her way around to Alicia's side of the table, looked at the computer screen and her eyes grew wide at what she saw. "Is that what you thought up?"  
  
"Yep, what do you think?" Alicia smiled at what she thought was a brilliant idea, but when she looked at her subject, she noticed that she was speechless--but she didn't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing. "Uh, Motoko? You alright?"  
  
"Um, I'm fine, I just didn't expect anything like this…" The figure on the screen was none other than InuYasha.  
  
"Well, I think it works perfectly for you. I mean, it would require an almost minimal wardrobe change, and you can still carry a sword around for the duration. Granted, I would have to supply a different weapon for you in order to better compliment the image, but that won't be too hard to accomplish. The only things I have to confirm will be the physical adjustments."  
  
"What do you mean 'physical adjustments'?" Motoko asked with a hint of suspicion.  
  
"Don't get me wrong, it will all be purely cosmetic. All I'll do is change your hair color and give you some claws and the appropriate ears. Will that be acceptable?"  
  
"Yes, I think so. Just curious, but will these… changes affect the way I move or anything?"  
  
"I don't think so. I actually plan on having at least the ears being illusionary. If you don't mind, I would like to make those changes now. I'll turn everything back to normal afterwards; I just want to make sure it all works and to see what you think of it."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Thank you. Have a seat," she said, motioning to her bed. After Motoko sat down, she got ready for work. "Now, let's see, the first I need to do is turn your hair from black to white… next, the claws… alright, and finally…" Alicia worked her magic on Motoko, making her look more like the figure on her computer. "There, done. What do you think, Motoko?" It was at that moment that she realized that Motoko had her eyes shut tight for the whole ordeal. "Are you okay? I didn't hurt you or anything, did I?"  
  
"Uh, no, you didn't, I was just… never mind."  
  
"You can tell me."  
  
"Well, you've never really used your magic on me that much in the past; or at least not like this, and I was scared of what it would feel like."  
  
"Was it uncomfortable for you?"  
  
"Actually, I didn't feel a thing. Did you actually do anything to me?"  
  
"See for yourself," Alicia said, pointing to the mirror.  
  
Motoko slowly looked at her reflection and was shocked at how different she looked. She then switched her glance to the screen and back again. "Oh my," she thought out loud. "With the way I look right now, he and I could have almost been twins."  
  
"I know. That's one reason why I chose InuYasha. You and him have a lot in common."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Alright, let's change you back to normal." Alicia snapped her fingers, and Motoko's original features returned. "I'll work on the accessories through tomorrow. I'll call you when they're ready."  
  
"You don't have to go through all this trouble for me. You don't have to make everything yourself."  
  
"But I want to. Besides, what I have planned can't be bought in a store; if you catch my drift."  
  
"So they won't be ordinary items, will they?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"I guess I'll let you get to work then."  
  
"Alright."  
  
Motoko was just about to head for the door when she remembered something. "Uh, Sean, could I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Well, it's just that Kitsune told me that you were thinking about me all day. Is that true?"  
  
"Oh great," Sean thought. "I was hoping this wouldn't come up." "What did she tell you?" He asked, expecting the worst.  
  
"Just that, but how she said it made me think there was something more than that."  
  
"I really don't want to talk about it."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because if I told you, I'd probably be dead by now. Serves me right for telling Kitsune anything, that blabbermouth."  
  
"Don't worry, I'm not quite as critical about perverted thoughts as I used to be, especially after having some of them myself, if you recall."  
  
"That's good to hear, but I'd still like to keep quiet about it for now, but whatever the case may be, I should be careful about watching you practice again, or I might have those thoughts again."  
  
"So it's watching me train that does it, huh?" She thought. "I'll have to keep that in mind." She opened the door to find Shinobu about to do the same thing from the outside. "Oh, hello Shinobu," she said, stepping aside.  
  
"Hi, Motoko."  
  
Motoko took one look back at Alicia. "See you later. Don't work yourself too hard."  
  
"I won't," Sean said as Motoko stepped out and Shinobu stepped in.  
  
"What's she talking about?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'm helping her with her costume, remember?" Shinobu nodded, remembering the conversation that happened that morning. "So, what brings you here?"  
  
Shinobu blushed a bit. "I just wanted your opinion on my costume."  
  
"Alright." It took a few moments to realize Shinobu didn't bring anything with her. "Uh, where is it?"  
  
"In my room."  
  
"Let's go," Alicia said, closing her laptop and following Shinobu out of the room and down the hallway until they reached Shinobu's door.  
  
"Could you stay out here?" Shinobu asked. "I want it to be a surprise."  
  
"No problem," Alicia said, watching her enter her room and close the door behind her. Moments went by with Alicia leaning against the wall next to the door, her curiosity growing with each passing second. Eventually, she saw the door open and was shocked when she saw Shinobu literally fly out of the room.  
  
"Well, what do you think of it?" Shinobu asked, eager for Alicia's honest opinion.  
  
"Very nice witch costume," Alicia said after regaining her composure. "The flying broom is a nice touch. Did you do all this yourself?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Nicely done. To be honest, I was thinking of being a magical figure also."  
  
"You were? Can I see it?"  
  
"It's not done yet."  
  
"Oh. Well, when you do, I want to be the first one to see it, 'kay?"  
  
"Sure thing." Alicia watched Shinobu pilot her broom back into her room. "Just when I think I've seen it all," she thought as she went back to her room. "along comes Shinobu riding a broom."  
  
--- Tuesday, 10/30 6:31 AM  
  
"Oh man, am I in heaven," Alicia sighed blissfully as she reclined a bit in the hot spring, letting the water reach her neck. She felt like she needed the bath then more then ever, as the work she had put in the day before left her exhausted. She was so involved in her own spa treatment that she was unaware of someone slowly approaching her.  
  
"Okay," Motoko thought to herself. "I can do this. I've needed to tell him this for a long time now, so I might as well get it over with." For some strange reason, she felt the need to sneak up on her target in order to do what was needed, and considering that Alicia had her eyes closed, and from her actions, it appeared her ears were as well, she was able to get close with little difficulty. The only thing left to do was get her attention…  
  
Alicia was still off in her own little, peaceful, blissful world when she heard a voice calling out to her. She slowly opened her eyes and immediately recognized the girl next to her. A half-tired smile appeared on her face. "That clinches it. I am in heaven. I'm seeing angels."  
  
Motoko couldn't help but smile at the compliment, but she knew she had to get down to business. "How are you doing, Sean?"  
  
"I'm fine."  
  
Motoko gave her a skeptical look. "Are you sure? You look tired."  
  
"I guess I am a bit weary, what with working on our costumes and all."  
  
"Did you get enough sleep?"  
  
"Oh sure, but creating items that way takes a lot out of a person, you know?"  
  
"You don't have to do all the things you do for us, you know."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean, you have to deal with so much around here, yet you still do almost anything we ask of you."  
  
"And your point is?"  
  
"There is such a thing as being too helpful for your own good. Sure, you need to keep this place up and running, but you don't have to help us with every little problem we have. I think you work yourself too hard and that we kind of take you for granted."  
  
"Don't be silly, Motoko. I like what I do around here. Besides, isn't it my job to care for everyone here?"  
  
"Yes, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice yourself to do it."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Alicia asked, as though what Motoko said was absurd.  
  
"Well, look at you now. You've sapped your strength to make a costume for me, which you didn't even have to do in the first place."  
  
"I know I didn't, but I couldn't just leave you to feel left out of the festivities."  
  
"That's not the point!" Before she could say anything further, Alicia placed a hand over her mouth.  
  
"Motoko, listen to me," Alicia said, a serious look on her face. "I know exactly what I do around here and the toll it takes on me, but if it keeps everyone here healthy and happy, then so be it!"  
  
"Alright, I guess I can't persuade you on that point, but I still think you're a bit under appreciated. I mean, you do all these things for us and most of the time, all you get is a mere thank you."  
  
"What are you getting at?"  
  
"All I'm saying is that I think you deserve something better than that."  
  
"And what do you suggest?"  
  
"I guess we could all repay you in our own way. For example, I could have you watch my practices more often."  
  
"Now hold on just a sec--"  
  
"I know what it does to you. I've been through the same thing thinking about you, remember? It's alright to have fantasies, even if they are about me."  
  
"Sure, but what if my will breaks down and I want to turn one of those fantasies into a reality; I mean, REALLY want to?"  
  
"I guess we'll deal with it when it happens. Who knows, I might be very accommodating."  
  
"Obviously, she hasn't seen what goes on in my head," Alicia thought. "Thank you. I must have been so wrapped up in helping you all that I didn't give much thought to asking for anything in return."  
  
"Well, maybe you should."  
  
"Maybe; but I'll try not to do it too much. I don't want to seem greedy or perverted or anything like that."  
  
"Trust me, you won't be."  
  
Suddenly, a thought occurred to Alicia. "Hold on, what about Keitaro? Aren't you still going out with him?"  
  
"Yeah, I still like him, but with you, it's different."  
  
"Pray tell, how?"  
  
"I feel like I owe a debt to you for all you've done for me. Besides, it's not like you and I dating or anything, right?"  
  
"What we've done together is a few steps past dating."  
  
"Well, you do those things with Kitsune, and you're not dating her."  
  
"That's different."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"With her, it's more like a prescription than anything else. I've seen her when she hasn't gotten laid in a while, and I don't want to see it again. Only recently, after I've been able to change into a woman, did I even consider trying to make those encounters mutually beneficial."  
  
"And were they?"  
  
"I wish. It seems that whenever the two of us get together, she's the only one who feels good afterward."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I mean either it ends too quickly, leaving me wanting more, or it drags on forever, making a very torturous experience for me to say the least."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Actually, recently, I've considered asked one of you to help me with that."  
  
"You have?"  
  
"Yeah, but I've given up on that idea already."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Well, I couldn't ask Naru, cuz she's with Keitaro, after my last encounter with them, Suu and Mutsumi are out of the question, and Shinobu's too young for that sort of thing."  
  
"What about me?"  
  
"I figured you would refuse outright, calling me a pervert or some such thing."  
  
"You know I'm not quite like that anymore; and never let go of an idea just because you assume what the reaction will be; you might get surprised by the result."  
  
"Are you saying that--"  
  
"Just answer me this one question."  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"When you and I did… those things… did you enjoy it?"  
  
"Yeah, I did, actually."  
  
"And would you like for me to do that sort of thing more often?"  
  
"You mean you'd actually do that for me?"  
  
"I feel like I owe you that much. I mean, you've gotten me to experience a wide range of things that I would never have even considered before you came along."  
  
"But what if Keitaro finds out about all this?"  
  
"Well, you consider what you do to Kitsune a prescription, right? Well, I'll just say it's the same thing for you and nothing more."  
  
"That should work. Probably the only person that would object would be Kitsune, but I'll think of a way to deal with that."  
  
"Um, do you want me to please you now? I'm not trying to sound too eager or anything, I just figured that after how hard you were working yesterday, you might need a break from all that; and we are all alone out here…"  
  
"You know what, as much as I appreciate the gesture, I came out here to get my energy back, and I doubt that would help any. After all, I still have work to do for tomorrow."  
  
"You mean you're not done yet?"  
  
"Not quite, but you must understand; not only am I making your costume, but also my own."  
  
"Oh, then I guess I should let you get to work, then."  
  
"Not necessarily. I could stay here for a while. Would you like that?"  
  
"I would." The two would remain together in the hot spring for the next twenty minutes, just enjoying each other's company.  
  
--- Wednesday, 10/31 3:28 PM  
  
"I still can't believe he spent all that time and energy on me…" Motoko said to herself as she gazed at the items that Sean created for her costume; namely, a chakra necklace and a sheathed sword. He had shown them to her and explained to her what they did the day before, so she was well aware of what to do. This was fortunate, as she hadn't seen the guy since she got home from school that day.  
  
When she put the necklace on, her hair, ears and hands transformed, making her look more like InuYasha. In addition to that, a red robe appeared over her kendo outfit, which she had been instructed to wear by Sean beforehand. After practicing with the new sword a bit, she walked out for the living room, where everyone was gathering for the forthcoming party.  
  
"Wow, Motoko, you look great!" Shinobu said at first sight of her. "I was wondering what Sean's been working on the last two days. It really suits you."  
  
"Uh, thanks," Motoko said as she not only saw her in her witch outfit, but also riding a broom that was floating three feet in the air by some unseen force. "You did a good job as well."  
  
"Aw, it was just something I threw together," Shinobu said, blushing.  
  
Motoko eventually saw everyone else and the costumes they chose. Suu was Ed from Cowboy Bebop, Kitsune was a Playboy bunny (she figured her idea was too good to waste) and Naru and Keitaro dressed up like some elderly couple, which got Motoko a bit concerned, seeing how the two teamed up on their costumes. She had a feeling that she was starting to be on the losing end of the battle for Keitaro's heart, but in the back of her mind, she figured that was going to happen anyway. The only one left unseen was Sean, but the sound of thunder in the distance made everyone think that that was about to change.  
  
Suddenly, a ball of electrical energy appeared. The light that radiated from it forced everyone to shield their eyes. As quickly as it appeared, it vanished, revealing Sean wearing a slightly oversized white robe with red triangles lining the bottom and the ends of the sleeves, and whatever hair that could be seen from under the hood of the robe was also a bright red We wielded an impressive looking purple mallet decorated with lightning bolts. "How's that for an entrance?" he asked, smiling.  
  
"Wow," Shinobu said. In fact, that was all anyone could say until Suu spoke up.  
  
"Where have I seen that outfit before?" She asked herself. "Oh, now I remember, you're the White Mage from Final Fantasy I!"  
  
"Yep." Inwardly, Sean was surprised anyone would recognize it. He figured he would have had to explain it.  
  
"And that's got to be Thor's Hammer, isn't it?"  
  
"You sure know quite a bit about the game, don't you?"  
  
"Well, when I'm not working on my machines, I'm playing video games. You went really old school with that one."  
  
The party went off without a hitch, with everyone laughing and chatting it up. Probably the thing that provoked the most questions was Motoko's ears, wondering if they were real or not, and her sword, which transformed into the full-powered version of the one from the show at the push of a button on the hilt.  
  
---  
  
As day turned into night, everyone started to gravitate towards their own rooms until just Sean, Kitsune and Motoko were left. "Hey, Sean," Kitsune said, obviously drunk, "why don't we go to my room for some post-party lovin'?"  
  
"You go on ahead. I'll be there in a minute."  
  
"Don't be too long," she said with a wink as she staggered back to her room.  
  
"Oh, I won't."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Motoko asked. "Are you going to tell her about how she isn't satisfying you?"  
  
"Nah, I have a better idea…"  
  
---  
  
After Kitsune got back to her room, she started to strip out of her costume, but partially due to her drunken state, she wasn't able to reach the zipper in the back. "Damn, I should have asked him to help me with this stupid thing before I left." As if on cue, she felt that same zipper being undone. "Oh, thank you." She looked back, but was shocked to see that nobody was there, but she continued to feel something removing her costume for her. "What the hell is going on?" she thought. "Am I that drunk?" After her outfit was fully removed from her otherwise bare body and flung across the room, she felt what could only have been hands; one was running its fingers up her thigh, one down her chest.  
  
"Aw, screw it," she said, not wanting to think about it any longer. "I'm yours, mystery man!"  
  
---  
  
"I honestly never thought I would ever do that again," Sean said as he looked at his arms, or what was left of them, since the hands were missing. "but, letting my hands go free and turning them invisible is probably the best idea I could have ever come up with. I'd rather go without than end up either only half-satisfied or tortured by overkill."  
  
"Um," Motoko said as she removed the necklace, returning her looks back to their original form and placing it, along with the sword, on the table in Alicia's room. "I just want to thank you again for what you did for me. I enjoyed myself tonight."  
  
"No problem. I'm glad you liked your costume." He looked on as Motoko bid him goodnight and made her way to the door. "Before you go, could you do something for me?"  
  
"Sure, what?"  
  
"Can you help me change out of this thing?" he asked, pointing out the robe he still had on. "It'll be pretty hard for me to do it without my hands."  
  
"Of course." Motoko walked back to Sean and found that the only way to remove it was to lift it up over his head. With some reluctance, she bent over and grabbed the bottom of it and began to do that very thing.  
  
It wasn't until she got the outfit to Sean's neck that something clicked in Motoko's head. She stopped when she realized that what was under the robe was not Sean's, but Alicia's body, and that she could see everything Alicia had to offer.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Alicia asked.  
  
"I just didn't expect you to…"  
  
"Sorry about that, but I do have one more request to make of you."  
  
"I think I know."  
  
"Would you…?"  
  
"I'd be glad to," Motoko said with a smile as she let the robe fall over both of them; due to Alicia's smaller frame, there was enough room to fit both of them.  
  
"Thank you Motoko," Alicia said as she moved both of them onto her bed. "This means so much to me."  
  
"Finally," Motoko thought. "my guilt is starting to fade. I found something I can do for him; and it's something I wouldn't mind doing more often." Motoko let her mind slip away as she made Alicia feel better than she had in a long time.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXIX * * *  
  
Yeah, yeah, call me a pervert or whatever; I don't really care anymore. Honestly, you should be used to this sort of thing from me by now. Anyway, this might be the last chapter you'll see from me for a while, as I have a couple of English papers due and finals are in about a week, so don't worry about me if you don't find Chapter XXX (Huh, XXX. I wonder...) within four or five days. I'll still be alive, I just have more pressing matters. Besides, when school's over, I'll probably be making up for lost time. See you soon and please R&R! 


	31. Ch30: Shinobu's Birthday

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Did you miss me? Admit it.  
  
* * * Chapter XXX: Shinobu's Birthday * * *  
  
"I don't think I could have asked for a better time," Shinobu thought. "I mean, setting up this picnic lunch for just the two of us…"  
  
"Thanks again for doing this. I'm having such a wonderful time today."  
  
"No sweat," Sean said. "I think we both needed a break from all that chaos the others bring into our lives anyway, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, it's good to just get away from it all. I hope they don't come looking for us or anything, though. You know how protective of me Naru and Motoko can be sometimes."  
  
"I do, but you don't have to worry about them or anyone interfering. I've taken steps to make sure we don't see them again until we want them to; or to be more accurate, they won't see us." The entire picnic scene had been turned invisible to everyone except the two involved.  
  
"He doesn't want anything to spoil this for either of us," she thought as she gazed lovingly at Sean, who was laying down on the picnic blanket he brought with him, staring up at the clouds. "Everything is so peaceful here. It's perfect." She continued to look on as her beau appeared more and more relaxed. It looked as though all his worries had melted away in the noonday sun. "He cares so much for me, yet there's so little I can do for him except help with repairs to Hinata-Sou."  
  
A tear started to appear in her eye. "If only there was something I could do…" Suddenly, she recalled what Motoko has done for him in recent days. "That's it! I could… no, he would never let me do something like that. He'd just say that I'm too young and that I shouldn't concern myself with it for now. He tells me to be patient, and I have been, but I just don't know how long it'll be until he thinks I'm ready for the next step. Oh, if only I was older, so I could enjoy the full benefits of having a boyfriend."  
  
When she saw Sean close his eyes, she knew a special opportunity was made available to her, and that it was her choice as to whether or not to take advantage of it. "Come on, Shinobu, you can do this." In all honesty, she was deathly afraid of what might happen, but she refused to let fear of the unknown hold her back.  
  
Sean was jolted out of his apparent daydreams when he felt Shinobu climb on top of him, her face about a foot away from his own. "Shinobu, what are you--"  
  
"Sean, you know I love you, right?"  
  
"Of course," he said, still a bit shocked by his girlfriend's bold action.  
  
"Then let me show you how much I care for you."  
  
"But I'm not sure if--"  
  
"I don't care if you think I'm too young! All I want is to see you happy, and I'm not about to let Motoko be the only one to do that!"  
  
Sean continued his attempts to object, but Shinobu would listen to none of it. She was a girl on a mission and nothing was going to stop her… except…  
  
--- Thursday, 11/15 6:15 AM  
  
Shinobu's eyes snapped open and it took a few moments for her to realize where she was; her bedroom, as opposed to the open field she had been in moments before and where she wished she had stayed. "Oh, God, not again!" she thought, her tears making themselves known. "Why are these thing have to happen to me?" she muttered.  
  
"And what things might those be?"  
  
Shinobu instantly recognized the voice and it was at that moment that she realized that someone was in bed with her, their arm draped over her. She looked behind her (as she slept on her side) and saw Sean there, smiling at her. "What are you doing in here?!" she asked in a hushed tone so nobody outside would hear.  
  
"Good morning to you too, birthday girl," Sean said, his smile never leaving his face.  
  
Shinobu didn't know how to feel at that moment. Should she be glad that Sean remembered her birthday? Should she be scared because of what happened in her dream? Should she just freak out because the two are sharing the same bed?!  
  
Noticing her indecision, Sean decided to snap her out of it by giving her a quick kiss on the lips, but all that served to do was deepen Shinobu's already red face. "What's wrong?" he asked, starting to get really worried at this point. "Aren't you glad to see me?"  
  
"I… I…" Shinobu started, frantically searching her mind for something intelligible to say. "I need to go make breakfast," she finally said, trying to get up, but Sean kept her from going anywhere.  
  
"No need. It's already taken care of."  
  
"Uh oh," Shinobu thought. Her escape route just got cut off. "What do I do now? Auuu…"  
  
Sean noticed Shinobu's panicked expression. "Shinobu, I can't help you if you don't tell me what wrong."  
  
"I'm sorry," Shinobu said, tearing up. "There's something I have to do." She jumped out of bed and ran out the door before a now speechless Sean could do anything to stop her.  
  
"I hate to run out on him like that," Shinobu thought as she slowly made her way down the hallway. "I know he meant well by what he did, but I need to sort out my own thoughts right now." When she reached the dining room, she found a wide array of food there, the centerpiece of which being a beautiful cake. "What's all this?" she thought out loud.  
  
"SURPRISE!!" Shinobu turned around to find the others in the doorway. "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, SHINOBU!"  
  
Shinobu was speechless; her face a bright red, partially because of the wonderful surprise, partially because she was still in her nightshirt.  
  
"Come on, girl," Kitsune said, lightly slapping her on the back. "We don't have too much time this morning before everyone was school and work to get to, so let's get this party started, shall we?"  
  
"Yay, Party!" Suu said, jumping up and down ecstatically. (How's that different from any other day? Oh well…)  
  
"Um, thank you, everyone," Shinobu said timidly when she regained her senses.  
  
"You should be thanking Sean," Naru said. "He's the one who planned this whole thing. By the way, where is he?" The whole time, Sean was absent from the festivities.  
  
"Hmm, good question," Keitaro said. "He was so excited about today; he even mentioned something about some big surprise for you, Shinobu."  
  
"Yeah, I think I've already come across his 'big surprise,'" she said. She wasn't sure if she should have said that, but she was too late; it had already been done.  
  
"Really?" Motoko said. "What was it?"  
  
"I'm not sure if I should say it…" her voice trailed off.  
  
"Aw, come on, tell us!" Suu said.  
  
"I think I'm going to regret this," Shinobu thought. "Alright, I'll tell you!" She noticed the looks she was getting from everyone; they were more than eager to find out. "Oh yeah," she thought. "I'm definitely going to regret saying this." "Well, when I woke up this morning, he was there."  
  
"You mean he was in your room while you were asleep?" Naru said, a slight twitch starting to form.  
  
Shinobu's face turned red again. "Actually, he was in bed with me."  
  
The next few moments were in complete silence. Everyone on the receiving end of Shinobu's little piece of information was shocked to the core.  
  
"Uh, you're kidding, right?" Motoko asked. "Please, tell me you're kidding."  
  
All Shinobu could do was shake her head slowly.  
  
"Ah, so that's his big plan," Kitsune said, a grin forming on her face. "He wanted to celebrate your birthday by making you a woman."  
  
"No, it wasn't--"  
  
"That no good…" Naru said, a vein throbbing in her forehead. "I can't believe he'd even think about trying to molest you! He is so dead!"  
  
"Naru, it wasn't--" Shinobu said, but Naru had already rushed out of the room. "--like that."  
  
"I find it hard to grasp that Sean would ever attempt to rape you," Motoko said.  
  
"That because he didn't!"  
  
"Well, if that's the case," Kitsune said, "then Sean is definitely in for a big surprise of his own."  
  
---  
  
Sean leaned against a wall in his room. It looked like he was in deep thought. "I could have sworn that she would have been overjoyed to see me," he said to himself. "but instead, she just ran off like I was the plague. Hmm, she mentioned that something has been happening to her. I wonder what it could be--" his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of his door being slammed open.  
  
"YOU!!" Naru screamed.  
  
"Me?" He said, confused and a bit scared at the look she was giving him.  
  
"I can't believe you!" She said, pinning him against the wall. "To think you would ever pull a stunt like that! I mean, trying to rape poor Shinobu on her birthday is a new low!"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Don't try to deny it! She said herself that you snuck into her bed last night!"  
  
"Hold on, you don't understand--"  
  
"Oh, I understand, and no magic will save you this time!"  
  
"Okay," Sean thought, trying to keep calm. "At this point, there's nothing I can say or do that will calm her down, so the best plan of action should be to…" He broke out in a dash for the door. "RUN LIKE MAD!"  
  
"Oh no, you're not getting away from me!" Naru said, giving chase.  
  
"I thought she was over this whole rage thing," he thought as he led his pursuer down the hallway until he reached a dead end. "Oh, crap."  
  
"Hehehe," Naru chuckled evilly as she made her way to her victim, who looked more and more like a trapped rat with each passing second. "I'm going to enjoy this so much," she said, cracking her knuckles.  
  
---  
  
Everyone who stayed in the dining room could hear the impact from upstairs as though it was only a few feet away, and it made Shinobu flinch. "Why did this have to happen?" she asked, new tears forming. "Why did Naru have to beat him on my birthday of all days?"  
  
"In a way, he brought it upon himself," Motoko said.  
  
"No, it wasn't his fault. He wanted me to be happy, that's all. I just couldn't keep my mouth shut about it when confronted about it by you."  
  
Naru reappeared in the dining room. "Ah, I feel better now."  
  
"Naru, news flash:" Kitsune said. "Sean's innocent."  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"It's true," Shinobu said. "He wouldn't do anything like that and we all know it."  
  
"You saying I beat Sean even though he didn't deserve it? …Again?"  
  
"You got that right," Kitsune said.  
  
"Oh, great," Naru said, guilt appearing on her face.  
  
"Aw, he'll be fine," Suu said. "Let's eat!"  
  
"You're right," Shinobu said. "He's survived this long, after all."  
  
"I still want to apologize," Naru said. "The last time I hit him for something he might have done to you, it resulted with him going blind."  
  
"Old habits die hard," Motoko said.  
  
"That's easy for you to say. Why didn't you come with me?"  
  
"I found it very hard to believe. I admit that if I didn't know him as well as I do, I would have accompanied you and tried to cut him in half for his transgression."  
  
"Uh, guys," Shinobu said. "Could I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure, what?" Naru said.  
  
"Have any of you had any dreams with Sean in them?" All the girls nodded. "What kind of dreams were they?"  
  
"Well, I haven't had one in a while, but I do remember some where the two of us were studying together," Naru said.  
  
"Playing with him!" Suu said between bites.  
  
"Consummating our friendship," Kitsune said, grinning.  
  
"Uh, ditto," Motoko said, blushing. That got a couple surprised looks before Shinobu continued.  
  
"That's what I thought."  
  
"Why do you ask?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, it's just that I had a one with him in it just a little while ago."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Well, it was like this…"  
  
---  
  
"Damn, I haven't seen Naru that pissed off in… well, ever," Sean thought as he entered orbit from the force of Naru's attack. He rubbed his cheek, which was black and blue and growing quite swollen. "Or hit quite that hard for that matter. I'm going to have to explain everything to her when I get back; I hope she's calmed down by then. In the meantime, I guess I should take advantage of this situation." He blinked, making his eyes glow green (telescopic mode). "Let's see how everything's going back home." He focused his vision on the southeastern United States. "This would be so much easier if I could see the state borders like in maps. Now let's see…" He kept zooming in until he recognized the highways of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. "Hey, I can see my house from here…"  
  
---  
  
"…I was determined to make him the happiest man alive, but just as I was about to, I woke up," Shinobu said, finishing her explanation. Her face was a deep red.  
  
"Well," Kitsune said. "it looks like our little Shinobu is growing up, doesn't it?"  
  
"Kitsune, this is serious!" Shinobu shouted, regaining everyone's attention. "After I woke up, it took me a little while to realize that Sean had joined me in bed overnight. I probably would have stayed with him, but I was too freaked out by my dream, so I ran out of the room. If only I had never dreamed that up; or was allowed to let it finish."  
  
"Shinobu, everything will be alright," Motoko said. "It was just a dream."  
  
"Maybe, but I've been having that same dream every night for the last week. Every time, I made the first move, and every time, I wake up before anything happens. I know I'm too young to have him in real life, and I can deal with that, but being denied in my dreams is just too much. I'm starting to get really worried."  
  
"Hmm, that is strange…" Motoko said, remembering the violent dreams Sean used to have.  
  
Kitsune went over the dialogue in Shinobu's dream, and something clicked in her head. "So, Sean's getting some action on the side is he?" she said, glaring at Motoko.  
  
"You can say that," Motoko said, her face turning pink. "But how did you find out about that, Shinobu?"  
  
"Sean told me. He didn't want me to be surprised if I happened to catch you two in the act."  
  
"I think the more important question is why would he go shack up with someone else?" Kitsune said. She looked like she had been betrayed. "Am I not doing a good enough job?"  
  
"That's what he said," Motoko said. "You should consider yourself lucky he still pleases you."  
  
"I'm going to have a serious talk with him when he gets back."  
  
"Speaking of which, I wonder where he's at?" Naru asked. "He usually gets back by now, right?"  
  
"Maybe he's just waiting for you to cool your jets," Kitsune said. "You were really mad at him just a few minutes ago."  
  
"Well, it was just a misunderstanding."  
  
"It's always a misunderstanding," Kitsune said under her breath.  
  
"I think I'm going to go take a bath and get ready for school now," Shinobu said. "Thank you for listening to what I had to say."  
  
"You're welcome," Naru said. "Mind if I join you?"  
  
"Not at all." All the girls decided to continue the birthday party in the hot spring, but Naru paused before leaving the dining room.  
  
"Hey, Keitaro, would you clean all this up for us? Thanks!"  
  
"Hey, wait--" Keitaro started to say but Naru was already gone. He looked around him; Suu had single-handedly made a disaster area of the whole room. "Wonderful."  
  
--- 3:02 PM  
  
"Are you alright, Shinobu? You've looked really distracted today."  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Shinobu said halfheartedly. In truth, she had become very depressed as the day wore on. She waited for Sean to return as long as she could before she would risk being late for school, but he never showed. Even in class, she found herself unable to pay attention to the teacher, her thoughts constantly turning to her missing love. The worry etched on her face didn't go unnoticed by one of her friends and she confronted her about it after class.  
  
"You sure don't look fine. Tell me what's bothering you."  
  
"Well, one of the people I live with got in a bit of an accident, and I've been wondering if he's alright."  
  
"Wait, don't you live at the girl's dorm?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Then why did you say 'he'?"  
  
"Our landlord's a guy; long story."  
  
"Hmm, I wonder why you're so worried about a guy… unless…"  
  
"Unless what?"  
  
"You're in love with him, aren't you?"  
  
Shinobu's face turned bright red. "W-What makes you think that?"  
  
"Well, the look on your face right now is a dead giveaway. Why haven't you told me about him before?"  
  
"It's a bit complicated. You see, he's--hey what's that?"  
  
"Don't try to change the subject."  
  
"I'm not joking," Shinobu said, pointing skyward. Sure enough, there was a flaming ball hurtling in their general direction. "Duck!" Shinobu grabbed her friend by the arm and ran for cover. About as soon as they were sheltered, they heard the tremendous impact not too far away from them. After the dust cleared, Shinobu poked her head out. "What the heck was that?"  
  
"Your guess is as good as mine. Let's go see."  
  
Shinobu nodded and the two slowly walked to the smoldering crater, where a small crowd was starting to gather. She could hear some murmuring, but couldn't tell what was being said. As they neared, she saw a hand poke out of the hole. "It's a person?! But how--" The words caught in her throat when she saw a second hand join the first one, but it was the head that appeared shortly thereafter that made her almost faint.  
  
"Oh man, I wouldn't want to go through that again," a singed Sean muttered, climbing out of the hole he had just made.  
  
Shinobu was speechless. Sure, she had gotten accustomed to the things he does around the house, but he just fell out of the freaking sky!  
  
"Hmm, I wonder where I am," Sean thought, looking around. "A school, huh? Well, that certainly narrows things down a--" His thoughts came to a crashing halt when he spotted Shinobu among the crowd. "Well, what do you know."  
  
Shinobu's friend heard the visitor call out to her by name. "Hey, how does he know you, Shinobu?"  
  
"That's him," was all she could say.  
  
"Who's he?"  
  
Shinobu finally let the reality sink in. Tears in her eyes, she ran over to him and hugged him tight. "Thank God you're alright! Where did you go, Sean?! I was so worried about you!"  
  
"I circled the earth a few times, courtesy of Naru's fist."  
  
"She sent you into orbit?! Oh, when we get home, I'm going to--"  
  
"--thank her," Sean finished.  
  
"What?!" Shinobu was confused by that.  
  
"You wouldn't believe the view from up there. I should take you up there sometime, but if I do, I'll skip the reentry; it can be a real pain, you know?"  
  
"Um, excuse me, but who are you and how do you know Shinobu?"  
  
"You wanted to know who I was in love with, right?" Shinobu said. "Well, this is him."  
  
"You've got to be kidding! He's got to be twice your age!"  
  
"Almost. What's your point?" Sean asked.  
  
"It's not like we do anything inappropriate or anything," Shinobu added.  
  
"It just doesn't look normal, that's all."  
  
"You just saw me plummet from I don't know how many miles up in the sky and you bring up being normal?"  
  
"Good point."  
  
"Now, there's something I need to talk to my girl about, so if you'll excuse us…" With that, both Sean and Shinobu vanished without a trace, provoking shocked gasps and whispers from the crowd.  
  
"I'm glad your alright," Shinobu said. She still felt a bit embarrassed, what with the public display of affection and all; and they were still there at the scene of the crash.  
  
"Don't worry," Sean said, noticing the blush on Shinobu's face. "They can't see or hear us right now." He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and the two began their trek back home. "Now, tell me what's on your mind."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You didn't run out on me this morning for no reason. Something's up."  
  
"I was too scared before, but I talked to the others about it, so I guess you deserve to know; especially because it concerns you." Sean nodded, signifying that he was listening. "Well, last night I had a certain dream about us."  
  
"Um, what exactly are we doing in this dream of yours?"  
  
"We were out having a picnic lunch together. Some time passes and a thought crosses my mind and I find myself determined to do to you what Motoko has."  
  
"Is that right?"  
  
"Yeah. Well, just before I got started, I woke up; and then I found you in bed with me. That's why I panicked; I regretted doing that afterwards. I might have stayed, but I've had that dream for a week straight, with the same ending; it's gotten me a bit frazzled."  
  
"I see. About sneaking into bed with you this morning. I probably overstepped my bounds by doing that, if Naru's reaction was any indication." He rubbed his cheek, which was still bruised. "I can still feel that punch she gave me."  
  
"That's my fault. I wasn't able to explain everything before she blew up."  
  
"Makes sense." Sean sighed and looked up at the sky. "I guess this birthday was a bit of a bust, huh?"  
  
"Not necessarily. There's still time left in the day."  
  
"I suppose so, but making you worry about me isn't a good start."  
  
"But you're here with me now. That improved it a lot."  
  
"Yeah. I wasn't even aiming for your school during my descent. I didn't even know where it was, so I got pretty lucky on that one."  
  
"Where were you aiming, then?"  
  
"I wasn't. All I could see was the flames surrounding my force field."  
  
"Yeah, you look like you got a bit cooked."  
  
"Well, it took me a little while to realize just how hot it gets when you're going through Earth's atmosphere at such high speeds."  
  
Shinobu nodded thoughtfully. "What do you think we should do later on?"  
  
"I think the first thing we should do is get back before the others send out a search party to find me."  
  
---  
  
"Hey, check this out!" Kitsune said as she sat on the couch, watching the news. There was a story on about a strange event that occurred in town minutes before.  
  
"…Eyewitness accounts depict a fireball crashing into the ground in front of a local middle school…"  
  
"I was afraid of this," Sean said, which surprised everyone, since he wasn't there moments before. The reporter continued, saying how he climbed out of the hole he made and how both he and Shinobu disappeared. "I should have known better than to pull the old vanishing act in public. I guess I should lay low for a while until this whole thing blows over. I hope they don't think it's a kidnapping."  
  
"Where the hell were you?!" Naru asked. "We've been worried sick!"  
  
"So I heard. To answer your question, I was in orbit!"  
  
"Did I hit you that hard?"  
  
"Yes, you did."  
  
"Um, I'm sorry about that. I overreacted again, that's all."  
  
"Let's just forget that ever happened, shall we?"  
  
"Sean, I need to have a talk with you!" Kitsune said.  
  
"If this is about what happened yesterday, I keep telling you--"  
  
"No, not that. Since when have you and Motoko been together?"  
  
"What do you mean?" Sean asked, trying to sound confused.  
  
"She knows, Sean," Motoko said.  
  
"Yes, I do, I would like an explanation."  
  
"Um, well," Sean said nervously, tugging at the collar of his shirt. In a spur of the moment decision, he ran out of the room. "See ya!"  
  
"Hey, get back here!" Kitsune said, giving chase.  
  
"Never a dull moment," Naru thought.  
  
--- 10:02 PM  
  
"Uh, Sean?" Shinobu asked, opening the door to his room.  
  
"Yeah?" Sean responded, looking up from his book. He noticed that Shinobu had changed into her nightshirt.  
  
"I just wanted to wish you a good night and to thank you for a nice birthday."  
  
"You're welcome, but I promise to not make you worry about my safety next year."  
  
"I don't think that'll be a problem. I warned the others that if they ever hurt you again when you didn't actually do anything, they'll have to answer to me."  
  
"Either that, or we can sell Naru to the space program to help them launch their satellites." The two shared a laugh, knowing that he was just joking. "Well, see you in the morning, then."  
  
"You're not going to bed yet?"  
  
"Nah, I figured I was going to stay up a couple more hours. You know me, and how much sleep I need."  
"Yeah, I guess waking up at midnight can be a bit hard at first."  
  
"I've gotten used to the early mornings. Why did you ask, anyway?"  
  
Shinobu's started to blush. "Well, I was just hoping we could go to bed together, like you tried to do this morning."  
  
"Oh," Sean said, tossing his book to the side. "In that case, I guess I could turn in a bit early tonight."  
  
Shinobu's face lit up upon hearing this. "Would you mind if I slept in here, then?"  
  
"Not at all. Keitaro's upstairs doing schoolwork with Naru, and I never know when or if he comes back down."  
  
Shinobu went over to him and hugged him. "Thank you. I promise I'll stay with you this time instead of running off."  
  
"Considering my sleep and work schedule, I might not be here when you wake up, but I'll do my best."  
  
"I don't care about that. All that matters is that we're together right here, right now. C'mon, let's get some sleep." She took him by the hand and led him to the futon he always kept unrolled in a corner of the room.  
  
"As you wish, birthday girl." He said as they both got under the covers. In almost no time at all, Shinobu was in a deep sleep, but since Sean wasn't quite tired yet, he just let his mind wander a bit. Some time later, he heard Shinobu sigh happily as she snuggled closer to him. "Looks like she's finally finishing a dream," he thought with a smile. "I just hope that when the time comes, I'm just as good in real life. I wouldn't want to disappoint her or anything." After what felt like an eternity, he let himself accompany his girlfriend in slumber, his final thoughts being his curiosity as to what exactly was going on in the dream Shinobu was having.  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXX * * *  
  
Aw, isn't that cute? Well, see you next time! Please R&R! 


	32. Ch31: Motoko's Birthday

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
* * * Chapter XXXI: Motoko's Birthday * * *  
  
Saturday, 12/1 6:45 AM  
  
The day started just like any other for the resident samurai. She got up, changed into her kendo outfit and began her morning exercises. Usually, she went out onto the roof for such things, but the increasingly cold weather forced her to change her plans. "I can't want for things to warm up again so I won't have to do this inside and risk running my sword through something; or someone," she said to herself.  
  
After a little while, she gave up on trying to get a good workout in and decided to go meditate in the hot spring. "It is my birthday, so I guess it's alright for me to take a break from it for one day." As she went down the hallway, she couldn't help but notice that everything was completely silent; something that usually never happens at Hinata-Sou, and it made her a bit uneasy. "Maybe everyone's still asleep," she reasoned. "It is a Saturday after all, and sleeping in is quite commonplace on weekends."  
  
Despite her logic, she couldn't help but wonder if that could ever be the case. Sure, the other girls and Keitaro might sleep in, but Sean has always gotten up much earlier than she did. Curious, she concentrated on finding Sean's ki wavelength. Eventually, she found it, but much to her surprise, it was very faint; so much so that she couldn't tell where it was coming from. "This is getting very weird. Where could he be?" By this time, she had already reached her destination and stripped out of her garb. "I shouldn't worry. I'm sure everything is fine. If anything, he might be planning something for my birthday."  
  
That thought got her mind on what he was planning, if anything. She started to get excited about what she might receive, but since she was trying to meditate, she pushed it out of her mind for the time being. After twenty minutes of peaceful meditation, she suddenly felt a spike of energy that she recognized right away as Sean's. She quickly got out of the water, ran to the changing room, dried off, got dressed and rushed over to the dining room, where the energy came from.  
  
When she got there, she found that Sean wasn't there. Instead, she found a single plate of food at the table; he had apparently made breakfast for her. "What the hell is going on this morning?! It's almost like they're trying to avoid me or something! Do they even know it's my birthday?" She happened to glance at the calendar and saw that her birthday had been clearly marked, so that couldn't be the case. "I suppose it's just as well. I didn't exactly want some big celebration or anything, but that doesn't mean they have to leave me alone completely."  
  
When she sat down at the table, she noticed that there was an envelope tucked a ways underneath her plate. She snatched it right away and read what was on it: "To Motoko; Read after you're finished eating." As much as she wanted to know what the contents said, she reluctantly followed the directions and started eating the food prepared for her. "Why is he playing games with me?" she thought. "There had better be something worthwhile at the end of this wild goose chase. Mmm, this is good."  
  
After she finished her breakfast and put the dishes away, she picked up the envelope, opened it and read the contents:  
  
Dear Motoko,  
  
Happy birthday! I know you haven't seen hide nor hair of any of us yet, but believe me when I say that we all wish you the best on this day. I figured you didn't want anything too extravagant, so I made you the meal you just ate; I hope you liked it. Anyway, there is something special wanting for you upstairs. You'll find it right outside Suu's room. Take it and enter her room; let her handle the rest. You won't be disappointed.  
  
Signed, Sean and Keitaro  
  
P.S. Wear your training outfit when you arrive. You're going to need it.  
  
Motoko was baffled by the letter. What was waiting for her upstairs? What did Suu have to do with this? Why bring her training gear? She could only speculate as to what the answers were as she went straight for Suu's room, since she was still wearing the same kendo outfit from before. When she got there, she saw a small square object on the floor in front of Suu's door. She picked it up and examined the colorful wrapping paper and the label that said, "To: Motoko, From: S + K"  
  
"They spared no expense," she thought with a chuckle. She opened the package and found a CD case with a disc inside. "Hmm, I wonder what's on this thing. No wonder he said to have Suu take care of the details. She's more knowledgeable about these things." She turned her gaze toward Suu's door. She has been inside that jungle of a room a couple times before, not to mention seen what kind of machines she has made that hasn't seen the light of day; and she was thankful for it.  
  
Not wanting to barge in, she knocked a few times on Suu's door. Moments later, she heard Suu's voice from the other side. "Come on in, Motoko."  
  
"How did she know I was coming?" Motoko thought as she opened the door. As she stepped inside, she spotted Suu sitting in the grass in front of her. It looked like she had been waiting for her somewhat patiently, but that changed almost as soon as Motoko stepped in.  
  
"Happy Birthday, Motoko!" she said as she jumped onto her shoulders. She noticed the object in her hand. "Ooh, what's that?"  
  
"It's a gift from Sean and Keitaro. They told me in a letter to bring it here and let you handle the rest." She handed it over to Suu, who began examining it.  
  
"Hmm," Suu muttered as she took the disk out and gave it a once over. "PlayStation."  
  
"A video game?" Motoko thought. "Why would they give me a video game for my birthday? They know I don't play those things."  
  
"Let's play it!" Suu said as she got off Motoko and went over to her stack of video game systems that spanned back a couple decades.  
  
"Did you know about this?" Motoko asked as she walked over to Suu's side and watched her put the game into her latest version of PlayStation.  
  
"Nope, but Sean did tell me that you'd be showing up with something fun."  
  
"I see. When did he tell you this?"  
  
"Yesterday."  
  
"Was that the last you saw him or Keitaro?"  
  
"Yup. Let the games begin!" she said as she flipped the power switch. Instantly, a picture appeared on the television screen.  
  
"…So that's why you're invincible, huh?" Sean said, stroking his chin. "Interesting."  
  
"Yeah," Keitaro said. "It's certainly come in handy around here."  
  
"You're telling me."  
  
Suu and Motoko just looked on as they saw the two men on the screen chatting it up. It looked like they were in some sort of arena and from the way they were dressed, they looked ready for a fight. Both of them were in kendo outfits; Sean's was all blue, Keitaro's was white on top, black on bottom.  
  
The conversation ended abruptly when Sean glanced in the direction of the girls. "Looks like we have company," he said.  
  
Keitaro smiled when he saw what Sean meant by that. "Ah, they've arrived. I was starting to wonder."  
  
"They can see us?" Motoko asked Suu.  
  
"We sure can," Sean said. "And we can hear you, too."  
  
"Happy birthday, Motoko!" Keitaro said, waving to her.  
  
"Uh, thanks," Motoko said, waving back uncertainly.  
  
"Why are you in the game?" Suu asked.  
  
"First thing's first," Sean said, holding out his arm in their direction. When she saw him snap his fingers, Suu saw Motoko vanish.  
  
"Where am I?!" Motoko asked moments later.  
  
"You're in the game too!" Suu said.  
  
"What?!" Motoko looked around and realized that Suu was telling the truth. Not only that, but Sean and Keitaro were standing right in front of her. "Would you please tell me what's going on?!"  
  
"Gladly." Sean said, getting ready for his big speech. "For the longest time, I've seen you practicing out on the roof, and I've noticed that there is one thing that you've been lacking, and I'm sure you've noticed it as well."  
  
"And what might that be?" Motoko asked, crossing her arms.  
  
"A good sparring partner. Sure, I've been there a couple times, but it was nowhere near a good workout for you, am I right?"  
  
"Yeah. You are certainly lacking when it comes to skills with the sword; no offense."  
  
"None taken. In fact, I'd be the first to admit that I'm not much for fighting. That brings me back to my point. Aside from possibly Naru, I don't think there's anyone here that can be a match for you one on one. Well, with my magic, I could certainly change that, but I didn't want to risk hurting you or anything like that if I did. That's when an idea hit me; a way for me to really help you with your training without having to worry about injuring someone."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
Sean spread his arms out, displaying the world around them. "Video games."  
  
Motoko looked confused. "Video games?"  
  
"Yes, video games. In my vast experience with the subject, I know that no matter how battered, bruised or bloody the characters get, they always come back for more. With this in mind, I created the world you see before you. This way, you could give your all in your practices without concern for anyone's safety. Think of this as my birthday gift to you."  
  
"I did need a way for me to work on my more powerful moves," Motoko thought. "But I was always worried that I'd destroy this place in the process. This would be ideal, but there's still something that bugs me…" "Thank you, but how am I supposed to do all this without my sword?"  
  
"Got that all taken care of." Sean said as he walked over to a trunk off to the side and opened it. "Let's see, where did I put that thing…? Ah, here we go." He pulled something out and tossed it at Motoko. "Here, catch." She deftly grabbed the projectile and saw that it was a sword identical to her own. "I thought that you might not bring your own sword with you, so I took the initiative and made some weapons for us to use while we're in here." He took two more swords out, tossing one to Keitaro (who almost dropped it on his foot tip first) and keeping the other for himself. "Plus, when you're in here, you won't have to worry about bad weather."  
  
"This place is perfect," Motoko said. "What a wonderful birthday present. Thank you very much."  
  
"My pleasure."  
  
"Just curious, but why is Keitaro here? I wouldn't think you would need his help for this."  
  
"I caught wind of what he was doing and I wanted to be a part of it," Keitaro said. "I figured it would be a nice change of pace to have you attack me when I can actually try to defend myself."  
  
"Who else knows about this?"  
  
"Just us," Sean said.  
  
"Then why haven't I seen the others this morning?"  
  
"Sleeping in as far as I know. It is Saturday, after all." Motoko couldn't help but roll her eyes and smile at that. "What do you say we get started?"  
  
"Yes, let's," Motoko said, readying her fighting stance.  
  
"Remember, don't be afraid to give it your all."  
  
"As you wish," Motoko said, readying her attack. "Rock Splitting Sword!!" Sean jumped to the side to avoid the attack, but it still hit his right leg, sending him to the ground.  
  
"Yay!" Suu cheered as she saw almost a fifth of Sean's life bar (which along with Keitaro's and Motoko's, appeared at the top of the screen at some point in the conversation) turn from green to red.  
  
"Are you alright?" Motoko asked as she watched Sean get up, slightly favoring his leg for the moment.  
  
"Don't worry about me," Sean said, smiling. (83% Health) "Just treat me like you would a normal opponent. I know I will." Without warning, he sent his sword flying straight at Motoko. Quickly, she leaned back and it whizzed by overhead.  
  
"You really think you can beat me by doing that?"  
  
"No, but if it distracts you, it would certainly help." Motoko regained her upright posture just in time to see that Sean had joined his sword in flight. Unable to dodge in time, she was hit by a kick to the forehead.  
  
"Hey, that's my move!" Suu said. She was unaware of her door opening and a drowsy Shinobu walking in.  
  
"Suu, what's going on up here?" Shinobu asked, slightly yawning.  
  
"See for yourself," Suu said, pointing at the television.  
  
Shinobu sleepily made her way next to Suu and saw the fight scene on the screen, which quickly got her wide awake. "What's going on?!"  
  
"Explanations later, let's just watch."  
  
Shinobu looked on in awe as Sean leaped off his perch on Motoko's head that had just hit the ground and land gracefully next to his sword that had imbedded itself in the wall. "Well, how was that?" Sean asked.  
  
"Impressive," Motoko said, getting up. (91%) "You caught me off guard with that one, but I won't let it happen again." She charged at Sean, sword raised to strike.  
  
"Eep," Sean muttered as he reached for his sword, but found out all too quickly that it was stuck in the wall. "Oh, come on, you little…" he grunted as he pulled with all his might in an attempt to pry his weapon out, but it held fast.  
  
"You can do it, Sean!" Shinobu yelled.  
  
"Shinobu?" Sean said. Hearing her voice diverted his attention away from the battle at hand for a brief moment, but it was long enough for Motoko to gain a greater advantage than she already had. In almost no time at all, he saw that Motoko was upon him. "Uh oh." His mind screamed at him, telling him to run for dear life, but his hands were still attached to his sword, so he was rendered immobile and therefore, an easy target. The next thing he knew, he was skidding along the ground after the horizontal slash made by his opponent, eventually coming to a halt about twenty feet away.  
  
"Oh no," Shinobu said, covering her mouth in shock. She couldn't help but feel responsible for what just happened. "He could hear me just now?"  
  
"Yep," Suu said.  
  
"Okay, that hurt," Sean thought. (59%) "So Shinobu's here, huh?" his mind continued as he glanced at his growing audience through the 2-way camera. "Just what I needed; more pressure." He got up and prepared for Motoko's next attack; he didn't have to wait long.  
  
"I shouldn't be striking him while he's defenseless," Motoko thought as she made her approach. "Then again, he always has his magic at his disposal, so he's never too vulnerable." This thought was proven when Sean crossed his arms in front of his face. Suddenly, a sphere of energy encircled him, preventing her from making contact no matter how hard she tried.  
  
Suu and Shinobu noticed from their end that while Sean had the shield up, his energy was slowly, but surely draining. "This isn't looking good for him," Shinobu said.  
  
Sean also noticed the strain this was starting to put on him; he also knew that he couldn't be on the defensive the whole time and expect to win a fight. Eventually, he got just plain fed up. "That's it!!" He yelled. (47%) He spread his arms out wide, sending a wave of energy outward, knocking Motoko back a ways. "I said I would be a good sparring partner and damn it, I intend to do just that!" He held out a fist and made a strong yanking motion, which caused his blade to come out of the wall. When he brought his hand back, his weapon quickly flew towards him, and he caught it as soon as it came within reach. "I refuse to be beaten so easily."  
  
"Ooh, I hate it when he gets like this," Shinobu thought. "I find it so scary that he's capable of so much aggression… I hope he wins."  
  
Motoko went into a defensive stance as Sean charged at her. She skillfully dodged and parried each strike that came her way, though there were some very close calls here and there. After a while, Motoko began to wonder if it was magic that was increasing his skill, if he was just a quick learner by observation, or a combination of the two. At one point, the two combatants had their blades clashed together, each trying to push the other back. "You've certainly improved since the last time we fought," Motoko said.  
  
"That's quite a compliment coming from you."  
  
"Yes, but you're still no match for me." Motoko swung her sword around in a circle, taking Sean's with it and sending it skyward. All Sean could do was stare as his weapon tumbled end over end in midair; he knew full well what was about to happen. "Huh boy." Upon hearing Motoko announce another of her ki moves, he crossed his arms again in an effort to block the energy, but the sheer amount of it combined with their close proximity conspired against him as he still suffered from the majority of the attack, sending him flying, hitting the far wall and landing face down on the ground.  
  
"SEAN!!" Shinobu screamed.  
  
"I'm okay," Sean said in an effort to raise Shinobu's spirits; and also to convince himself of that very thing. (3%) He got up on all fours and tried to catch his breath for a moment. While he was in his precarious position, he had forgotten about one small detail, but he would get the point soon enough.  
  
Suddenly, his eyes went wide and a gasp rang out from everyone watching, which now included Naru and Kitsune, who heard all the cheering and screaming coming from Suu's room. All they could do was stare open-mouthed at what they saw. While the others merely watched the event unfold, Sean felt it first-hand; he glanced downward to find his own sword sticking out his chest. "Maybe not." (0%) "I guess you'll have to take over from here, Keitaro. Don't get beaten up too badly, 'kay?" Sean smiled, lowered himself back down and closed his eyes. Much to everyone's disbelief, they saw his body start to blink in and out of existence. At first it was slow, but it quickly quickened its tempo until he vanished completely.  
  
Everyone was at a loss for words. Minutes went by in complete silence; most likely, they were mourning their loss. "Uh, sorry?" Motoko finally said, afraid of what might happen next.  
  
The shock finally caught up with Shinobu, as she fainted into Naru's arms. "Don't worry, I'll take care of her," she said, carrying her out.  
  
"What should we do now?" Keitaro asked. "I mean, we may be stuck in here."  
  
"I don't know," Motoko said. "Why did he have to push me so far? I should have known better than to agree to this if I had known he would--"  
  
"Hey, he knew exactly what he was in for when he started planning this whole thing! Trust me, I had the same concerns as you, and I'm sure he did too! He was willing to do anything to help you with your training, and so am I!"  
  
"You mean--"  
  
"Yes, like he said before he vanished, it's time for me to take over." Keitaro unsheathed his sword. "I'll do my best not to disappoint you." He had absolutely no idea where his sudden surge of bravery came from, but for some reason, he didn't really care.  
  
"As you wish." And so, the battle continued with one… minor substitution. Despite his best efforts, Keitaro found himself unable to land a single blow, but Motoko was a different story. Time and again, she sent him flying a one direction or another, but he just kept coming relentlessly. "Keitaro, stop this," Motoko said after a while. "I don't want the same thing that happened to Sean to happen to you."  
  
"Maybe I should stop," Keitaro said as he got up from Motoko's latest attack. (13%) "But I still have some fight left in me, so--"  
  
"That won't be necessary."  
  
"Wha?" Keitaro looked back to find Sean there, alive and unharmed. "Sean, you're back, but how--"  
  
"Let me tell you something. That was some ride I just took; one that I'd rather not try to explain."  
"So I suppose you're ready for another round?" Motoko said.  
"Nah, I think we've had just about enough for one day. Suu, turn the game off."  
  
"Aw, but I wanted to watch some more fighting." After Sean gave her a dirty look, she quickly obeyed, turning the PlayStation off, making the television go black. "I wonder how he made this game," she said as she took the disk out. "And if he could show me how."  
  
"You mean all that was a video game?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Sure was. Sean, Keitaro and Motoko are all in here." She held up the game for Kitsune to see, and it suddenly began to glow. "Huh?" Three bolts of energy shot out the disk and quickly materialized into the combatants they had just seen on the screen.  
  
"Well, that went pretty much how I expected it to," Sean said. He quickly turned his attention to the still injured Keitaro. "You alright? I saw how you fared back there."  
  
"I've felt better," Keitaro said with a smile. "but I'll survive."  
  
"Good," he glanced around the room. "Hey, wasn't Shinobu in here before?"  
  
"She fainted when she saw you vanish," Kitsune said. "Naru took her to her room."  
  
"I should go check on her, then." Sean then walked out of the room.  
  
"Now, could someone tell me what's going on?" Kitsune asked.  
  
---  
  
"Shinobu, it's going to be alright," Naru said. When Shinobu regained consciousness about a minute after losing it, tears immediately came streaming down her face.  
  
"You saw the same thing that I did, right? It wasn't my imagination, right?!"  
  
"We both saw the same thing, but that was on television; it probably was just special effects or something."  
  
"That was the real Sean, it was! What if I never see him again?!"  
  
"I figured you'd have more faith in me by now."  
  
Shinobu gasped when she heard the familiar voice, almost not willing to believe her ears. She looked towards the door and found Sean there, smiling, and more importantly, alive. Quickly, she got up off the bed where Naru had placed her and ran over to him, hugging him tightly. "Don't ever scare me like that again! I thought you--"  
  
"--died?" Sean finished. "Well, maybe I did. I'm not really sure what exactly happened back there. If I did die, then it just proves what I told the others about characters in video games; they always come back for more, no matter how badly they're beaten."  
  
"But what if you were wrong?"  
  
"You really want to think about that?"  
  
Shinobu shook her head. "Never."  
  
"Uh, Sean?"  
  
Sean turned his head to find Motoko walking towards him. "Yes?"  
  
"I just wanted to properly thank you for what you did. That was the best training session I've had in a very long time."  
  
"No problem. In fact, I was thinking we could make a weekly routine out of it or something. Would you like that?"  
  
"I would."  
  
"You mean you're going to do that again?!" Shinobu asked, almost screaming.  
  
"Don't worry, Shinobu," Motoko said. "He survived getting run through by his own sword, right?"  
  
"You're right," Shinobu said. "But please try to be more careful about what you decide to do in the future, alright? I hate worrying about you."  
  
"I'll see what I can do," Sean said, barely able to hold back laughter.  
  
"Good. I'm going to go make breakfast now," Shinobu said cheerfully as she left, but not before grabbing Sean by the arm and dragging him along with her. "And you're coming with me so I can keep you out of trouble!"  
  
"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Sean half-laughed as he went along for the ride. He glanced back at Motoko before he was out of sight. "Same time next week, right Motoko?"  
  
"Sure thing," Motoko said. "What a birthday present," she thought with a chuckle. "Only he could have come up with something as crazy as that. …Or one as thoughtful."  
  
* * * End of Chapter XXXI * * *  
  
Well, what did you think? Now that school is out (yay!), I'll give you one guess as to what I'll be doing. See you next time! Please R&R! (Is it just me or is this looking more and more like episodes of a tv show? Oh well...) 


	33. Ch32: A Christmas Mystery

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Chapter XXXII: A Christmas Mystery   
  
Tuesday, 12/18 6:14 PM  
  
"Ah," Naru said as she walked out of her room, stretching a bit. "It's good to finally get all that schoolwork out of the way." She spent the last three hours working on her studies, and a break was just the thing she needed. "I wonder if Sean had to deal with all this when he was in college." When she got to the living room, she found Sean there, sitting on the couch, his back to her. "Well, speak of the devil," she thought. Since the television was off, she was a bit curious as to what he was doing there all alone. As she crept up behind him, she could see a notepad and pencil in his hands, but what caught her interest was that written on the paper was a list of everyone at Hinata-Sou except for himself; next to a couple of the names were some strange symbols that she found vaguely familiar, but couldn't remember where from.  
  
"Hmm," Sean muttered. "Let's see now…" He tapped the eraser end of his pencil on the paper for a minute or two. "Ah, that should work." He then began to scribble more incomprehensible mumbo-jumbo next to Suu's name on the list, but seemed to stop midway through it. "Can I help you?" He asked flatly without turning around.  
  
"You knew I was here?" Naru asked.  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Magic?"  
  
"No, I could feel you breathing down the back of my neck."  
  
"Oh, sorry." She moved around to the front of the couch and took a seat. "So, what are you doing out here all by yourself?"  
  
"What, I can't have time to myself all of a sudden?" Sean asked with a smile.  
  
"Well, around here, it's just not possible most of the time, you know?"  
  
Sean nodded knowingly. "And what brings you down here?"  
  
"I just finished my schoolwork for the day, so I figured I'd relax for a while."  
  
"That's cool."  
  
"Now that I think of it, where is everyone? Usually, there's so much commotion in this place, I can barely think."  
  
"Don't know. Maybe they've got the same idea we do."  
  
"Maybe hell froze over." The two shared a laugh. "Hey, can I ask you something?"  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"What was college like for you?"  
  
"Not bad. There were some bumps in the road here and there, but overall it went pretty well. Why do you ask?"  
  
"It's just that I've been working so hard on my studies, and I was just wondering if you went through the same thing."  
  
"To be honest, I've never been much of a studier, though if I was trying to get into a place like Tokyo U, things might have been different."  
  
"So the school you went to wasn't as tough as Toudai?"  
  
"No, and I'm not sure if I could have gotten in if I tried, even now."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Like I said, my study habits are nearly nonexistent."  
  
"Then how did you get through college, then?"  
  
"Don't get me wrong, I still did the work I had to do, but usually the most preparation I ever did for a test was to go over notes and such that day. It's not ideal, I know, but hey, it worked for me."  
  
"I suppose." Naru's eyes fixed themselves on Sean's notebook. "What are you writing about in there?"  
  
"What, this? Oh, it's nothing important."  
  
"But I saw our names."  
  
"Like I said, it's not important," he reinforced, mentally thanking himself for thinking of writing in the same script he uses in his spellbook. "Hey," he started in an attempt to change the subject before Naru gave him a full interrogation. "I haven't heard Suu in a while; I'm going to check on her and make sure she doesn't blow the place up or something." He quickly got up and left the room, taking his pad and pencil with him and leaving a bewildered Naru in his wake. "This is definitely not going to end well," he thought as he made his way to Suu's room. He did have to keep his story straight, right?  
  
"Hmm," Naru said to herself after Sean left. "I wonder what's so important that he'd keep it a secret from me? Maybe I should look into it… no, if it concerns all of us, he'll tell us about it eventually."  
  
---  
  
Two days went by in regular Hinata-Sou fashion, but everyone present could notice that something was a bit off about Sean. After her little encounter with him, Naru was probably the most informed, but she made sure not to mention anything about it, since she knew the other girls well enough to know that rumors had a tendency to spread like wildfire, and that that was probably the last thing Sean would want until, hopefully, he revealed his secret himself. Unfortunately, Kitsune had other plans.  
  
--- Thursday, 12/20 4:30 PM  
  
"He's hiding something from us, I just know it!" Kitsune said. She had gathered everyone in the attic to discuss the issue.  
  
"I have to admit," Motoko said. "He has been acting a bit more reserved as of late."  
  
"Whenever I saw him," Shinobu said. "he seemed to be in deep thought until he noticed me watching him."  
  
"That's just what I'm talking about! We have to find out what's going on!"  
  
"No we don't," Naru said, intending to stop this uproar before it starts. "We have no business prying into his personal life." Kitsune gazed at Naru, as though analyzing her. "What are you looking at me like that for?"  
  
"You know something, don't you?"  
  
Naru got a bit flustered, but tried to cover it up with indifference. "What are you talking about? As if I want to know what he does 24 hours a day."  
  
"You know what, you are such a horrible liar. Get her!" In an instant, both Kitsune and Suu were upon her.  
  
--- (Fifteen minutes later…)  
  
"I'm going to ask you one last time," Kitsune said. "What's Sean doing?"  
  
"For the thousandth time," an enraged Naru said. "I don't know! Even if I did, what makes you think I'd tell you now?!" She had been tied to a chair in the living room.  
  
"She has a point," Motoko said. "This is certainly not going to persuade her to talk if she actually has any information."  
  
"We could always leave her here," Kitsune said.  
  
"We can't do that!" Shinobu said. "I mean, Sean would definitely let her loose when he finds out about this!"  
  
"When I find out about what?" Sean asked as he entered the room. "Uh, why is Naru tied up?" He asked when he saw her, not to mention the crowd surrounding her. "Isn't it usually Keitaro that ends up restrained for one reason or another?"  
  
"Ah, just the man I wanted to see," Kitsune said walking up to him. "I have a couple questions for you."  
  
"First, I suggest you untie Naru. If you don't, I won't protect you from whatever she does to you. In fact, I just might encourage her." A sly smile appeared on his face. "Or better yet, I might give her a few suggestions."  
  
Kitsune quickly sprang into action, releasing Naru from her bonds. She knew full well that Sean can think of some very unpleasant things when given enough incentive.  
  
"Thank you," Naru said, standing up, glaring at Kitsune. "They've been giving me the third degree about what you've been doing for a while now."  
  
"Like you tried to do two days ago?"  
  
"So she DOES know something!" Kitsune said. "Spill it!"  
  
"You won't get anything from her," Sean said. "Trust me."  
  
"Then why don't I ask the source?"  
  
Sean looked confused. "And who was that again?"  
  
"Don't play dumb!" Kitsune said, grabbing Sean by the shirt. "You're planning something, and I demand to know what it is!"  
  
"I doubt that there's anything I could say that would be of any use to you." "Except for this," his mind added. "Hey, Shinobu, could I ask you something?" he asked after he removed himself from Kitsune's grasp.  
  
"Uh, sure," she answered, a but surprised by the sudden request; but the next question would be only more so.  
  
"When's the next time you plan on going into town to go shopping?"  
  
"Tomorrow right after school, why?"  
  
"Mind if I join you?"  
  
"Not at all."  
  
"Why do you want to go shopping with Shinobu?" Naru asked.  
  
"Are you denying me the right to be out with my girlfriend?"  
  
"Of course not, I was just curious. You've never had too much interest in actual dates in the past."  
  
"Well, that's because I knew I would get weird looks if I was out on a date with a 13 year-old. Plus, after what happened last month, I'd probably be recognized on the spot, and I really don't want to know what happens after that."  
  
"And how do you plan to keep people from identifying you?" Motoko asked.  
  
"You forget my female alter ego. There's no way they'll know it's me. I'll meet you tomorrow when you get out of school, 'kay?" All Shinobu could do was nod as Sean began to leave the room, but stopped short. "Oh, and remember, call me Alicia while we're out, alright?"  
  
"No problem," Shinobu said as Sean walked out of the room.  
  
Naru kept rolling the conversation around in her head until something clicked. "I think I know," she muttered.  
  
"Come again?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Two days ago, I found Sean writing on a pad and paper."  
  
"Why didn't you say that before?!"  
  
"I didn't want to spark a riot. Besides, I had no way of knowing what he was writing."  
  
"Why's that?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"He was writing in some strange language I couldn't understand. The only thing he wrote intelligibly was a list of all our names. I've wondered what that could mean, and I think I now know."  
  
"Well, don't keep us in suspense, girl, tell us!" Kitsune said.  
  
"I believe it's his plans for Christmas gifts for all of us."  
  
"Why didn't I think of that before?!" Kitsune said, mentally kicking herself. "That's got to be it! That would explain why he wants to go shopping all of a sudden."  
  
"Presents!" Suu yelled over and over again.  
  
"I knew it," Sean thought as he leaned against a wall in the next room. "That made things a bit more interesting." He then left for his room. He knew that Kitsune would be plotting something; maybe right then and there, and he didn't want to be within earshot because he wanted to figure out her plan on his own. Besides, it might be entertaining to see what they come up with.  
  
--- Friday, 12/21 3:01 PM  
  
Shinobu walked out of school after class ended to find Alicia waiting there patiently for her. After taking a moment to remember how to address her, she approached her. "Hello Alicia," she said.  
  
"Hey kiddo," Alicia responded, mussing Shinobu's hair a bit. "How was school today?"  
  
"It was fine," she said, blushing a bit. "So I guess we should head home so I can get my purse, huh?"  
  
"No need. I brought it with me." Alicia handed Shinobu's purse to her. Even in her female form, she found herself uncomfortable carrying a purse around, but hid it well.  
  
"What about my backpack?"  
  
"We could always take it with us; the extra carrying space might come in handy."  
  
"You always think of everything."  
  
"Not always," Alicia said, though internally, she had more things planned out than Shinobu counted on.  
  
"Let's go then."  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
As the two girls made their way downtown, Shinobu went over Kitsune's plan in her mind. "I just have to find out what Sean's going to get us," she thought. "though I'd rather be surprised."  
  
Alicia couldn't help but notice Shinobu deep in thought. "Hmhmhm," she thought, smiling. "Time to set my own plan into action." "Hey, Shinobu, mind if I meet you here later?"  
  
"Uh, sure," Shinobu said. As she watched Alicia head off in another direction, she reluctantly decided to set Kitsune's plan into motion. Reaching into her backpack, she pulled out a small headset and put it on. "Bluebird to Foxhole; Bluebird to Foxhole; do you read me, Foxhole?"  
  
---  
  
"This is Foxhole," Kitsune said. "What's your status, Bluebird?" Everyone (some more willing than others) had gathered in the dining room where Kitsune had a 2-way radio set up (courtesy of Suu, of course).  
  
"The target has made her move," Shinobu's voice said.  
  
"Perfect. Follow her, but keep your distance; I don't want you to blow your cover. Keep us updated."  
  
"Roger that, Foxhole. Bluebird out."  
  
"Yes," Kitsune said. "Soon, we will all find out what he's going to give us."  
  
"But won't that ruin the surprise?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Yes it will," Kitsune said with a smile. "You don't have to listen if you don't want to, but I'm certainly interested in what great gift he's going to give."  
  
Motoko's mind was in conflict. She wanted Sean's gift to be a surprise, but she also found it difficult to resist knowing what it might be. "Uh, maybe I'll stay and listen for just a little while," she finally said.  
  
"I don't blame you, Motoko." Kitsune turned her attention back to the radio. "Sean is so clueless right now, he has no idea that he's being watched. He's playing right into my hands."  
  
---  
  
"She's playing right into my hands," Alicia thought. Unbeknownst to Shinobu, Alicia had magically placed a tracer on her, letting her know her exact whereabouts at all times; and at this time, Shinobu was tailing her a ways back. Alicia glanced at the stores that lined both sides of the street until she found one that caught her interest. "Perfect," she thought. "I'm sorry, Shinobu, but I have to get you off my back if I plan on getting what I really need."  
  
---  
  
"Foxhole, this is Bluebird."  
  
"Go ahead, Shinobu."  
  
"She's going into a store; you won't believe what kind."  
  
"Tell us."  
  
"Well, she's going into an… adult store."  
  
"Really?" Kitsune didn't see that one coming. "I wonder what she has planned."  
  
"Don't expect me to follow her in there."  
  
"Of course not. Try to be inconspicuous as you watch her through the window."  
  
"I'll try." There was an obvious nervousness in her voice, and there was silence for a few moments before Shinobu spoke again. "What is she--oh my…" The gang back at Hinata-Sou heard a strange sound and then more silence.  
  
"Shinobu, what happened?" Kitsune said. No response. "Shinobu, are you there?!" They heard more sounds and then a voice could he heard.  
  
"Hello, Kitsune."  
  
"Oh, crap," Kitsune said upon recognizing Alicia's voice. "What happened to Shinobu?"  
  
"She fainted. Don't ask why."  
  
"How did you know she was following you?"  
  
"I knew you were planning something. To be honest, I'm disappointed with you. I thought you would come stalk me yourself instead of having her do you dirty work for you, or at least have her go stealth or something. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to do my Christmas shopping now without any further interruptions."  
  
"Well, that didn't work," Kitsune said.  
  
"Thank goodness for that," Motoko thought.  
  
---  
  
About a minute later, Shinobu woke up. The headset had been replaced on her head as though it had never been removed, and she found a note in her hand: "I'm sorry about that, but I didn't want you to see what I'm getting for you all. I hope you understand; Sean. P.S. I'll come find you when I'm done."  
  
"I understand," Shinobu thought. "and I wouldn't want it any other way."  
  
--- Tuesday, 12/25 8:49 PM  
  
"Here we are, the moment you've all been waiting for!" Sean said as he came down the stairs, presents in hand. He had been working on them all weekend, but finished early enough to help out with the decorations the day before.  
  
"It's about time," Kitsune said. For the last three days, she tried to get any information from him using her usual methods, but always walked away empty-handed. Granted, the others were curious as well, but they were more patient. Even Suu didn't let it get to her--that is, until she saw him set the small pile of presents on the table.  
  
"Which one's mine?!" She asked, leaping for the gifts, but was caught by Sean.  
  
"I want to say something before we get started, 'kay?" Sean set Suu down, where she stayed, but he could tell she was getting a bit restless, so he tried to make it quick. "Naru, Keitaro, I wasn't able to think of anything specific for you two, so I got something for the whole group, is that alright?"  
  
The couple looked at each other for a moment. "That's alright," Naru said. "Nobody's perfect. I'm sure we'll like whatever we get."  
  
"Thank you," Sean said, turning back to Suu, who was looking at the presents like it was a feast. "Since you're so eager, I'll start with you."  
  
"Yay!" Suu cheered as she saw him search for her present.  
  
"Here you go," Sean said, handing her the gift, who then quickly ripped up the wrapping paper and opened the box underneath.  
  
"Hmm," she said as she pulled out a vial that contained a red liquid. "What is it?" she asked, examining it.  
  
"It's kinda hard to explain with words, so a demonstration is in order." He walked into the kitchen and came back with a banana, much to Suu's delight. He grabbed the top of the vial, which turned out to be a eyedropper, and put a single drop of the liquid on the banana. Much to everyone's surprise, that one drop spread over the entire thing, then faded until it was barely noticeable.  
  
"What did that do?" Naru couldn't help but ask.  
  
"I'll let Suu answer that," Sean said, tossing the fruit to her. "Dig in."  
  
Not one to pass up a snack, Suu quickly peeled the banana and ate the whole thing in one bite. Moments later, there was a shocked expression on her face.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Motoko asked.  
  
Suu swallowed before she gave a response. "That is the spiciest banana I've ever had!" The smile on her face said the rest.  
  
"I had a feeling you would like that," Sean said. "I know how much you like spicy foods, so I figured out a way for you to have all you want without everyone else getting heartburn. The only thing you really need to know about that stuff is that you only need one drop for the entire meal. Any more, and it might be too much, even for you." After making absolutely sure Suu understood, he went back to the pile and grabbed a small, rectangular box. "Next up: Kitsune," he said, tossing it in her direction.  
  
"I wonder what this could be," Kitsune murmured as she opened the package with somewhat less enthusiasm as Suu. Inside, she found a beautiful gold necklace. "Wow, it's wonderful! Thanks, Sean!"  
  
"You're certainly pulling out the stops on this one, huh?" Naru asked as everyone watched Kitsune put on her present.  
  
"It is my first Christmas at Hinata," Sean said. "Besides, you don't know the half of it."  
  
"What do you mean?" Keitaro asked. "Does that necklace have some sort of function?"  
  
"Of course. You've known me long enough to know that I rarely make anything just to be a fashion statement; and that is no exception."  
  
"What does it do?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Well, all of us know that you're not exactly what one would call a morning person, considering your… habits."  
  
"Yeah, what's your point?"  
  
"What if I told you that you will never have another hangover again as long as you wear that?"  
  
Kitsune's eyes lit up. "Is that true?"  
  
"Sure is."  
  
"You mean no matter how drunk I get--"  
  
"Let me just clarify something. This doesn't mean you can drink yourself sick. The only thing that necklace will protect you from is the hangover the next morning."  
  
"Alright, I get it, but still this is a great gift. What do you say I show you my gratitude later on tonight?"  
  
"We'll see. The next gift will be the one for all of us; and I'll be opening this one personally."  
  
"Why you?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"When I say everyone, I'm including myself."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Actually, now that I think of it, since I didn't get anything specifically for Naru or Keitaro, why don't you two do the honors?"  
  
"Alright," Keitaro said as Sean handed the package to them. They opened it and found… something; actually, seven things.  
  
"Um, what are these?" Naru asked, holding one of them up for the others to see. It looked like what would happen if a mechanical pencil and one of those click erasers had kids.  
  
"We all use pencils quite a bit, whether it be for school, work, or whatever. With these, you'll never run out of lead or eraser--ever. I figured you would all find it useful, even if it isn't much for a Christmas present."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Naru said. "It's the thought that counts."  
  
"Thanks." Sean then grabbed another present and handed it to Shinobu. "I took me a while to think of this one, so I hope you like it."  
  
"I just know I will," Shinobu said as she unwrapped the gift and found a leather-bound book underneath. She saw her name engraved on it in Sean's handwriting. Upon opening it she found all the pages blank.  
  
"You could use that for any number of things: a diary, a self-made recipe book…" He said the next part more offhandedly. "…a spellbook… "  
  
"You mean I could make my own spells in here?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Of course. It looks better than in a binder, I'm sure."  
  
"I've never given any thought to making my own spells before. I should think of something good for my first one and make you proud of me."  
  
"More than I already am?" Sean asked. "I find that a bit hard to believe." Shinobu blushed and brought her present close to her as she watched him walk back to the pile, where there was only one item left. "You must have seen a pattern with my gifts so far. All these gifts were intended to be used for a long time, though in Suu's case, I'll have to refill that vial at some point. This last one…" He held up the last present; it looked rather small. "…is one that I'm especially proud of, as it took me the most effort to make. I hope you make some good use out of this, Motoko." He set the tiny package in Motoko's hand.  
  
Motoko undid the wrapping paper and saw that there was a ring box underneath. "This isn't a--"  
  
"It's not a proposal," Sean quickly said, obviously expecting such a reaction. "Open it." Motoko obeyed and inside was a seemingly ordinary ring made out of what appeared to be platinum. "If it was a proposal, I would have some gems on it or something like that." That explanation also served to calm Shinobu down. After seeing the ring, she got a bit worried about Sean's intentions, but after what Sean said, she remembered she knew him better than that.  
  
"It's interesting," Motoko said, giving her gift a once over before putting it on her right index finger. "What does it do?"  
  
"You'll see," Sean said. "Stand up." After she did, he directed her to another part of the room, a ways away from where the others were seated. "Close your eyes. Now, move your hand as if you were unsheathing your sword. Motoko did so. "Now, open your eyes and tell me what you see."  
  
"My sword…" she muttered, shocked at the weapon in her hand. "But how…?"  
  
"First, let go." The sword vanished as soon as it lost contact with Motoko's hand, much to her surprise. "I know how you like to have your sword with you at all times, and I realize there are those places where weapons aren't exactly appropriate. Therefore, I created this ring so that you will always have a weapon ready if you need it. What do you think?"  
  
"I love it!" Motoko said, giving Sean a hug that made Shinobu a bit flustered again. As quickly as the embrace arrived, it left; Motoko made the hand motion again and the sword appeared out of some unseen scabbard. "This is wonderful!" she said, making a few practice swings with her gift.  
  
"Motoko, I want to make something perfectly clear," Sean said. When Motoko turned to face him, her smile distracted him for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure. "I only intended this to be a last resort. Don't rely on this new sword all the time, as it might not be as well made or as powerful as your own. I suggest you only use this one when you have no other options, do I make myself clear?"  
  
"Yes," Motoko said as she let go of the sword. "Perhaps I will only wear this so I'll be more comfortable and confident in… social situations."  
  
"That's what made me think of this in the first place." After a few moments, he added, "Alright, enough of all this serious stuff. Let's all enjoy ourselves." The party would last until past midnight, when everyone started to get tired and decided to go to bed until only two people were left.  
  
"Um, Sean?" A somewhat drunk Kitsune said. "I know I've kinda made a habit out of torturing you in… a certain way."  
  
"Yes," Sean said. He had vivid memories of what she's done to him.  
  
"Well, I was just wondering if, as a present from me, I could try to… make up for some of it?"  
  
Sean only responded by smiling, then turning into Alicia.  
  
"Thank you," Kitsune said as she led her to her room.  
  
End of Chapter XXXII   
  
What did you think? See you next time! Please R&R! 


	34. Ch33: The Future Beckons

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Oh my God, why did I ever think of this?! I mean, I know I've written some pretty strange stuff, but this... (I notice you looking at me.) Oh, um, hey. You're here for the new chapter, right? Of course, why else would you show up? Well, here you go, knock yourself out. (I walk away, holding my head.) What have I gotten myself into?  
  
Chapter XXXIII: The Future Beckons   
  
Tuesday, 1/1/2008 4:42 AM  
  
"Well, the year may be new," Sean muttered to himself as he surveyed the now clean hot springs. "But that's the only thing that is." He always found himself bored in the early mornings. That was the one reason why he preferred physically doing the cleaning instead of using his hocus-pocus to do it in an instant. Of course, that could only use up so much time and he would always end up trying to find something to do that wouldn't wake everyone up. "It's times like this," he sighed. "that I actually miss all the craziness that goes on around here. I'm surprised to have grown accustomed to it. I know I'm not exactly the picture of normality, but those girls as a whole are in another league altogether at times." He smiled as he walked inside. "And for some reason, that's why I love 'em."  
  
As he went through the living room, he gave the television a passing glance, then moved on without a second thought. He had long given up on it to pass the time, as he hardly ever found anything worthwhile to watch at that time of day. "I guess it's back to my room, then." Well, technically, it had been Alicia's room, but he recently moved his things out of the landlord's room into the neighboring one for two reasons: One, he spends a good portion of his time there anyway, what with his magic experiments and all, and two, he wanted to give Naru and Keitaro that much more privacy. He wasn't absolutely sure of what the two have done together, and he wanted it to stay that way for the time being. "To think, Naru used to hate that guy. Of course, she used to hate me too," he thought as he went into his room and commenced the morning ritual he had developed for whenever he didn't have some magical work to do: playing video games and listening to music.  
  
--- 6:12 AM  
  
"What a beautiful morning," Shinobu thought as she stood out on her balcony. "I hope this new year was just a good as the last one; or at least half of the last one." She recalled the memories of her experiences since Sean first arrived, both the good and the bad. "We've been through so much," she said as she went to get ready for the day ahead. "I wonder what the future will bring."  
  
As she walked down the hallway on her way to the kitchen, she happened upon Motoko. "Hi, Motoko! Happy new year!"  
  
"You too," Motoko said.  
  
"Where are you headed?"  
  
"I just finished a training session, so I was heading to the hot springs."  
  
"Are your skills improving?"  
  
"I sure hope so. I wouldn't want all my effort to be a complete waste."  
  
Shinobu nodded as the two walked toward the stairs together. As they passed Sean's door, they could hear faint music coming from the other side. "Hmm," Shinobu thought. "Let's see if Sean wants to help me with breakfast." She opened the door to a startling, yet somewhat amusing sight.  
  
Hearing Shinobu stifle a laugh, Motoko walked up next to her to see what was so funny. Inside, she saw Sean being a maestro to a song being played on his computer. His movements, most especially his arms and head, were quite exaggerated, which caused him to have to regain his balance a few times from the momentum.  
  
Sean was completely unaware of his audience, as his eyes were closed during his "performance". His mind was focused on keeping his movements in time. "I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me." His thoughts coincided with the lyrics of the song. "He's just a poor boy from a poor family. Spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go, will you let me go…" The song continued for a couple more minutes as he unknowingly giving his onlookers quite an entertaining show. When the song ended, he suddenly heard applause coming from the doorway. When he realized he had an audience, his face quickly turned red. "Um…" he said nervously. After a few moments, the only thing he could think of to do was smile and give a bow, but midway through it, his legs gave out and he went on all fours, trying to catch his breath.  
  
"Are you alright?" Shinobu asked, rushing to his side.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said, getting up onto his knees and holding a hand to his pounding chest.  
  
"What was all that?" Motoko asked.  
  
"You have you exercises, I have mine," he said. (Don't laugh! The way I do it, it's a damn good workout!)  
  
"How long were you doing that?" Shinobu asked as she helped Sean to his feet, but both she and Motoko could tell he was still a bit unsteady.  
  
"About twenty minutes now," Sean said, favoring his aching arms. "Though I could feel the effects after five." After a few moments he added, smiling, "I'm not used to having an audience when I do that. I'm sure you can understand why."  
  
"Yes," Motoko said. "We found it hard to keep from laughing."  
  
"You should see me dance," Sean thought. "On second thought, no, you shouldn't."  
  
"You shouldn't overexert yourself like this, Sean," Shinobu said. "Here, let me help you get to the hot springs to freshen up."  
  
"Thanks," Sean said. "Going down those stairs in my condition would be quite a trip by myself." As an afterthought, he added, "Hey Motoko, could you turn off my computer for me, please?"  
  
"Sure," she said. "I'll join you in a sec."  
  
"Thanks a bunch," Sean said as the couple walked out the door.  
  
Motoko walked over to the laptop and turned off the media player and was about to shut the whole thing down when one of the icons caught her eye. "Hmm, what's this?" She asked herself as she double-clicked the icon labeled, "Story". After reading a few pages, she quickly realized it was a written account of Sean's experiences since he arrived at Hinata-Sou. "Well, I guess what goes on around here would make quite an interesting tale. I'll have to read the whole thing later and see if he embellished anything." She turned off the computer and headed out to the hot springs.  
  
---  
  
"Thanks, Shinobu," Sean said as Shinobu helped him get into the water of the hot spring without falling on his face.  
  
"Anytime," Shinobu said cheerfully. "Just take it easy next time."  
  
"I wasn't going to come straight here afterwards; I would have waited to get my strength back."  
  
"All the same--" Shinobu was interrupted by Sean drew her into a kiss.  
  
"What were you going to say?" he asked when they separated.  
  
"Uh, nothing," a brightly blushing Shinobu said. "I'm going to go make breakfast now. See you later."  
  
"Have fun," Sean called to her as she rushed for the door.  
  
Shinobu entered the changing room to find Motoko doing the exact same thing on the other end of the room. "What's wrong, Shinobu?" Motoko asked.  
  
"It's just that I…" Her voice trailed off as she refused to make eye contact.  
  
"He got you again, didn't he?" Shinobu nodded. "He just doesn't want you to worry about him all day. He can take care of himself. Like you said once yourself, 'He survived this long,' and you know this isn't exactly the safest place for a guy to live."  
  
"I don't know why I do that," Shinobu said. "There's something about the thought of losing him that I just can't stand."  
  
"I'm sure that if anything should try to bring him harm, he can handle it, but if he can't, I wouldn't hesitate to help him, and I doubt you would either."  
  
"You're right. Thank you. See you at breakfast."  
  
"See you then," Motoko said as she watch the other girl leave.  
  
---  
  
"I guess Shinobu was right," Sean muttered. "Twenty minutes of that was a bit much, but when your bored as hell, what else is there?"  
  
"You could write a book."  
  
"Maybe, but--WHAT?!" Sean jerked his head around to see Motoko there, clad in a towel. "What would make you think of that?"  
  
"I looked at the story on your computer," Motoko said as she stepped into the water and took a seat next to him.  
  
"Exactly how much did you read?" he asked, starting to get worried.  
  
"Just a few pages. Why didn't you say that you were writing a book about us?"  
  
"I, uh, wanted it to be a surprise."  
  
"And just how long were you going to let it get before you let us read it?"  
  
"Don't know. I guess I got so involved in it, I forgot all about that."  
  
"You must have."  
  
"Well, considering what goes on around here, there's quite a bit to write about."  
  
"I know."  
  
"I'll let you read it anytime you want, just don't do it behind my back, alright?"  
  
"No problem. In fact, I've been getting ideas for some stories of my own. Mind if I tell you about them later on?"  
  
"Sure, but I don't know how much help I can be."  
  
"You don't need to be so modest. From what I read, you seem to have some talent in that department."  
  
"You're not the first one to say that," he thought. "I'll see what I can do."  
  
"Thanks. You're the first person I've told about this. If I told anyone else, I don't know what they would think."  
  
"Well, you're not exactly the kind of person people would expect to write a book. Believe me, before I started writing, I thought the same way about myself."  
  
"I guess life has many twists to it at times."  
  
"I'm living proof of that."  
  
"Just curious, but what kind of things did you put in your story?"  
  
"Oh, this and that. Major events and such. I wouldn't want to give too much away, even though we've already lived through it all once before."  
  
"You're right." Motoko let the issue slip away and allowed herself to relax in the spring. Sean on the other hand, was a different story, as his mind was going a mile a minute.  
  
"I should have known one of them would find that thing sooner or later," he thought. Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't have been that big a concern, but this story he wrote wasn't your ordinary tale; the main reason being the date it was first created: January 5th, 2004. Ever since he first arrived at Hinata-Sou, he saw the striking similarities--hell, his experiences have matched word for word with the story he began writing back then purely on a whim. To put it simply, it's been freaking him out time and time again. For the longest time, he's tried to rationalize these correlations, but to no avail. Eventually, he decided to just lay back and take things as they came. "At least that story of mine didn't depict every single day. That left some room for me to be surprised. Still, it just doesn't seem right for me to know what's going to happen beforehand, but writing about it and actually living it are very different. Now that one of them knows about it, I'm going to have to make a few… adjustments so they don't start wondering what's going on. I just hope they don't read the entire thing; or the sequel for that matter. I wouldn't want to try to explain it."  
  
--- 8:01 AM  
  
"Hey Sean, you in here?" Naru asked as she opened his bedroom door.  
  
"Yeah, what's up?"  
  
She noticed him working on his computer. "You working on your story?"  
  
"Uh, yeah. Motoko tell you about it?"  
  
"She told us at breakfast."  
  
"I see. Is that all?"  
  
"No, we've got a bit of a surprise for you in the living room."  
  
"Is that right?"  
  
"Yep." It was that moment that Sean realized that he could only see Naru's smiling face.  
  
"Does it have something to do with the lower ninety percent of your body?"  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Sean smiled. "I'll be down in a sec." After Naru retracted her head, he let out a sigh of relief. "I definitely should have thought of this a long time ago," he said to himself. Over the last couple hours, he's been working on a way to forget about the very story the girls suddenly seemed to take so much interest in. He had just finished magically programming his computer to only reveal those chapters that have already come to pass in real life. That completed, he cast the spell he had prepared to remove the content of the now hidden chapters (not to mention the sequel, which he also hid) from his mind, even though he'd still be aware of their existence. "At least I don't have to worry about that anymore," he thought as he walked out of his room to see the surprise waiting for him, now that it would actually be a surprise.  
  
On the way, he met Keitaro, who was heading in the same direction he was. "Naru talk to you, too?"  
  
"Yeah, I can't help but wonder what's going on."  
  
"Me too." For a change, he was completely honest. As the two men arrived in the living room, they were greeted by an unexpected, though not unpleasant sight.  
  
"Well, what do you think?" Naru asked. All the girls present were in kimonos.  
  
"Wow," both men said in unison. "What's the occasion?" Sean asked.  
  
"We figured we'd start this new year off right," Kitsune said.  
  
"We're all going to the temple today," Shinobu said. "Would you like to come with us?"  
  
"Of course," Keitaro said. "Let's go."  
  
As the group headed out, Sean noticed something. "Hey, where's Motoko?"  
  
"She went ahead of us," Naru said. "We'll met her there."  
  
Sean nodded her understanding and they continued on their way until they reached their destination; not to mention see the crowd that was already there. "Wow, this is certainly a popular place, isn't it?"  
  
"Well, people usually come here to wish for luck in the coming year," Naru said.  
  
"Ah." Sean glanced over to one of the larger groups of people and saw what the attraction was. "I see what you mean, considering there's a wishing well here."  
  
"You want to go make a wish?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah, wish for bananas!" Suu said, jumping on Sean's back.  
  
"Nah, that's alright, you go on ahead I've never been one to rely too much on luck. Besides, what would I wish for? I've already got everything I could ever want. I'm going to go have myself a look around, see if anything catches my interest."  
  
"Wait, I'll come with you," Shinobu said.  
  
"You don't have anything to wish for, either?"  
  
"Nope," she said, gazing lovingly at him.  
  
"Gee, I wonder why," Sean said rhetorically as the two separated from the group. Eventually, they found Motoko working at one of the buildings.  
  
"Hello," she said. "Are you two enjoying yourselves?"  
  
"Sure," Sean said. "But there hasn't been much that have caught my eye yet." He looked at the sign at Motoko's building. "Hmm, fortunes." He looked at Shinobu. "Shall we?"  
  
"Sure. You believe in them?"  
  
"Not really. I was thinking we'd get a laugh out of it."  
  
"Be careful," Motoko advised. "These tend to come true."  
  
"I'll believe that when I see it." He said, paying for both Shinobu's fortune and his own. Sean's expression turned from humored to serious as he read his, beginning with the first two words: Questionable Luck. What followed didn't help much.  
  
-Those around you will learn more about you than you may want them to. ("Um, maybe that's just a coincidence," he thought.)  
  
-A barrier in your life will fade for a short time.  
  
-Your love will be put to the ultimate trial by fire. Be careful not to get burned.  
  
-Be wary of sly foxes with bright ideas.  
  
-You will be the subject of divine intervention.  
  
-Beware of aggressive blondes; escape before all is lost.  
  
-Relative complications will arise for those around you.  
  
Sean thought what he read was quite odd, but it was the last line that got him thinking the most:  
  
-The choices you make will shape not only your fate, but that of those you care for. Try to make the right ones.  
  
Motoko noticed that Sean was deep in thought. "Is something wrong, Sean? What kind of luck did you get?"  
  
"That kind," he said, holding up his fortune for them to see, but folded up so that all they could see was those first two words.  
  
"May we see the rest?" Shinobu asked, curious about the ambiguous message.  
  
"I'd rather you didn't," he said, pocketing his fortune. He knew that the message behind couple of them would be easily recognized, and that it might cause undue worry on Shinobu's part… again.  
  
"I understand," Motoko said. "Sometimes, these things can get quite personal."  
  
"If only you knew," he thought. "Excuse me, there's something I need to go do."  
  
"But Sean--" Shinobu started to say before she was stopped by Motoko putting a hand to her shoulder.  
  
"Let him go," she said. "He knows what he's doing. What did your fortune say…?"  
  
---  
  
Sean backtracked through the crowd until he found the other girls and Keitaro.  
  
"Hey, Sean," Keitaro said. "Where's Shinobu?"  
  
"Back with Motoko at the fortunes place."  
  
"Oh, did you get one?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah, I did," he said, not making eye contact. "It was… interesting."  
  
"Where are you headed off to all by yourself?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Back to that wishing well."  
  
"I thought you said you didn't have anything to wish for," Naru said.  
  
"I do now," he said, walking past them.  
  
"Think he got bad luck or something?" Keitaro asked. Naru, Kitsune and Suu could only guess.  
  
When he got to his destination, Sean reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin. "Please, let me make the right decisions this year," he thought, tossing it in. As an afterthought, he tossed another coin in. "Also, I wish for the happiness of all my friends."  
  
"Why did you just walk off?" Sean looked back to see Shinobu.  
  
"How did you know where I was?"  
  
"The others told me while getting their fortunes."  
  
Sean sighed. "I'm sorry. The fortune I got just got me thinking, that's all."  
  
"Want to talk about it?"  
  
"Not really. Most of it was pretty cryptic. I'm not sure you'd understand it. Heck, I don't even get some of it."  
  
"Oh. What do you want to do, then?"  
  
"I don't know. Maybe head back home."  
  
"Should we get the others?"  
  
"Nah, they can have fun without us. Besides, we don't get too much time alone together. We should take advantage of this opportunity. Like Kitsune said, we need to start this year off right, and I think spending more time with you doing something other than repairs can do just that." Shinobu quickly agreed to that and as soon as they were out of sight, they teleported back to Hinata-Sou.  
  
"So," Shinobu said after they appeared in the living room. "what do you want to do?"  
  
"Want to go play some video games? I promise I'll go easy on you," Sean said with a smile.  
  
"That sounds nice."  
  
"How about you go get yourself a snack, change and meet me in my room?"  
  
Shinobu nodded, then rushed off to the kitchen to do just that, but when she reached the kitchen, she saw something that wasn't there before. "I must have gotten so wrapped up in the holiday season that I forgot to get a new calendar," she said, gazing at said item. "Sean must have done it just now." She grabbed it and was about to hang it up when she noticed that some of the dates had already been marked, and it got the wheels turning in her head. "Hmm, maybe I shouldn't hang this up just yet…" Completely forgetting about getting a snack, she took the calendar with her to her room.  
  
End of Chapter XXXIII   
  
I guess I might have been worried over nothing, though this is going to get some interesting reviews. Oh, I just remembered, I have no rights to Queen, so don't sue me on that one. See you next time! Please R&R! 


	35. Ch34: A Gift Like None Other

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Alright, no more pessimism! On with the show!  
  
Chapter XXXIV: A Gift Like None Other   
  
Friday, 1/4 4:48 PM  
  
"Remind me," Naru said. "Why are we up here again?"  
  
"I have absolutely no idea," Kitsune remarked. "How about you, Motoko?"  
  
"I'm afraid I'm at a loss on this one," Motoko said. The three had been called up to the attic by a certain blue-haired adolescent, saying it was important.  
  
"Maybe this whole thing will shed some light on Shinobu's recent behavior," Naru said.  
  
"I hope so," Kitsune said. "She's been acting weird ever since she and Sean pretty much ditched us at the temple on Tuesday. It makes me wonder what those two did together."  
  
"Kitsune, don't talk like that!" Naru said.  
  
"And why not?" Kitsune asked with her trademark grin. "Eroticism is pretty common around here, and you know it."  
  
"Yes, I do, but I also know that Shinobu has never been involved."  
  
"She's right," Motoko added. "Sean and Shinobu may be close, but they're not quite that close, are they?"  
  
"We don't really know that, now do we?" Kitsune said. "It's not like we can keep track of their actions at all times or anything. For all we know, they could have--" Kitsune cut her hypothesis short when she saw the topic of discussion make her appearance.  
  
"Thanks for coming on such short notice," Shinobu said.  
  
"What did you bring us up here for?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'm sure you're aware of Suu's birthday next week."  
  
"That can't be the only reason why you--!" Kitsune started to say before she was interrupted.  
  
"You're right, it's not." Shinobu revealed the calendar she held behind her back. "This is why," she said, tossing it to the floor in front of them. Sure enough, Suu's birthday had been marked on the 11th, but that wasn't all that was there. Also marked were Keitaro's birthday on the 5th and Sean's on the 17th.  
  
"Huh," Kitsune noted. "Six days before and six days after."  
  
"Why didn't anyone tell me Keitaro's birthday was tomorrow?!" Naru asked.  
  
"Probably because nobody knew, except for me," Shinobu said. "and Sean."  
  
"Sean?" Motoko said.  
  
"I'm assuming he marked all the dates on here. Besides, why wouldn't he know this stuff? He is the landlord, after all."  
  
"Why are you bringing this up now?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yeah, we'd need more time if you plan on us throwing a party for Keitaro tomorrow," Naru said.  
  
"I've already got something thought up for that."  
  
"Is that why you've been acting so strange lately?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Yeah, what did you think it was?" Shinobu asked, her curiosity piqued.  
  
"Oh, nothing," Kitsune said.  
  
"I should have known better than that," Naru thought. "Shinobu and Sean couldn't be screwing. He's not a pedophile and she's not interested in that sort of thing yet… right?"  
  
"Alright," Shinobu said, "This is going to involve some acting on everyone's part, but here's what I have in mind…"  
  
--- Saturday, 1/5 8:21 AM  
  
"Good morning!" Keitaro said as he entered the dining room for breakfast; all the girls had already gathered there. He was more cheerful than usual, this being his birthday and all, but the reaction he got when he arrived left much to be desired.  
  
"Hey," Naru greeted unenthusiastically. It hurt her inside knowing she didn't look excited about that day, but Shinobu had it all planned to the t, and she had no choice but to follow the plan. She assumed Motoko and Kitsune were in the same boat. She was right, but it didn't affect them as much.  
  
"What are you so cheerful for?" Motoko asked. "Are you looking forward to going back to school that much?"  
  
"At least you get a break," Kitsune muttered.  
  
"Well, it wasn't my idea for you to get a full-time job, was it?"  
  
It was at this point that Keitaro realized that nobody knew it was his birthday, and he debated whether or not to bring it up, eventually deciding against it, considering the direction the conversation around him was heading. He quietly ate his breakfast, listening to Kitsune and Motoko bicker. When he finished (which happened pretty quickly, as the noise was getting unbearable) he needed to think of something to get his mind off them not knowing about his special day. Suddenly, it came to him. "Hey Suu," he said. "Want me to help you with one of your machines?" He figured he might as well make someone happy this day, even if it wasn't him.  
  
"Sure! Let's go!" Suu then dragged Keitaro upstairs to go work on God-knows-what.  
  
"And furthermore," Kitsune said. "How are you even able to afford living here? I've hardly ever seen you work!"  
  
"Kitsune, cool it," Naru said.  
  
"Yeah, Keitaro's already gone," Shinobu added.  
  
"Sorry," Kitsune said, grinning and holding the back of her head. "I must have gotten caught up in the moment."  
  
"Don't you think we laid it on a bit thick?" Motoko asked. "I mean, he might think something's up."  
  
"Nah, he's so clueless, you know?" Naru said.  
  
"I just hope we can keep it up the act," Shinobu said.  
  
"Hey, how are you paying your rent, anyway?" Kitsune asked.  
  
---  
  
The next few days were hard on the ones that knew about Keitaro's birthday besides him. Naru couldn't stand not celebrating the occasion, but Shinobu insisted that it would all be worth it when the time came. Kitsune and Motoko weren't quite as distraught, but there have been times where they almost gave everything away, but quick recoveries combined with Keitaro's natural thickheadedness kept things under wraps. Shinobu on the other hand, was as cool as ice. The other three secretly marveled at how she could keep a straight face for the entire ordeal. Finally, the day came that would bring peace of mind to all involved… or would it?  
  
--- Friday, 1/11 10:12 AM  
  
Naru opened Keitaro's door to find him sitting at his table, busily doing schoolwork. He had long given up hope on having a birthday party, so he put more energy into his education. Despite his efforts, there have been times where he found himself unable to concentrate, and this would soon become one of them. He was so engrossed in his studies, he was unaware of Naru sneaking up behind him until a blindfold suddenly appeared over his eyes. "What the--?"  
  
"Don't speak," Naru whispered into his ear. Her tone of voice was a hair or two shy of being seductive. "Come with me." Keitaro seemed only too eager to obey as Naru helped him to his feet and lead him out the door.  
  
When they got there, Naru met with Shinobu and Motoko, the former leading Sean by the hand, the latter carrying Suu on her back; both of the followers were wearing blindfolds like Keitaro. Silently, Shionobu motioned to the others and the group started moving down the hallway. The two men could only guess as to what was going on. Suu on the other hand, was eagerly waiting for her apparent birthday surprise forthcoming, and it took all her effort not to make any noise, per Motoko's instructions. In fact, all three were told to remain silent so each one wouldn't become aware of the other two and possibly ruin the surprise.  
  
When they got to the dining room, they saw Kitsune making the final preparations. Upon seeing them arrive, she gave the thumbs up and stepped out of the way. Naru, Shinobu and Motoko led their subjects to the table and sat them down (though it took some effort to pry Suu off Motoko's back). The final step in the plan came when Shinobu snapped her fingers, making all three blindfolds vanish.  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" The four girls yelled, much to the surprise of the other three.  
Yay!" Suu said, "Birthday party!"  
  
Sean was too surprised to say anything out loud, but his mind was a different story. "Somehow, I should have seen this coming," he thought. He did, after all, leave the calendar for Shinobu to find back on New Year's.  
  
"You actually remembered my birthday," Keitaro said, shedding tears of joy.  
  
Naru suddenly broke down, rushing to Keitaro's side. "Yes, I did!" she cried. "I knew all along!"  
  
"Then why didn't you say anything?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Because Shinobu had it all planned out," Motoko said.  
  
"You did?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yep," Shinobu said cheerfully. "I thought it might be better to have one party for all three of you instead of one at a time."  
  
"It's your birthday too, Sean?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Next week," Sean said, nodding.  
  
"Let's party!" Suu said.  
  
"I hear that," Kitsune said.  
  
"So, you planned this whole thing, huh?" Sean asked as he watched Suu almost dive into the cake that was provided for them. "I thought you were acting a bit strange lately."  
  
"You noticed too?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"I guess I was just focused on setting up this party," Shinobu said, sitting down next to Sean. "Did you like the surprise?"  
  
"Sure did," Sean answered, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.  
  
"Then I'm sure you'll love what else I've got planned for you," she thought, smiling as she, along with everyone else watched Naru apologize repeatedly to Keitaro for blowing off his actual birthday. "It was harder for her than I thought."  
  
---  
  
As the next few days went by, everyone noticed that Shinobu was still acting a bit different than usual. She spent more and more time in her room, and whenever she was seen anywhere else, she was always deep in thought and usually lacking in energy, and when anyone asked her anything, she would always dodge the question in one way or another. This got the others thinking that maybe, just maybe, the party wasn't quite the extent to her plans. They had no idea just how right they were, but only one person would ever find out.  
  
--- Wednesday, 1/16 3:47 PM  
  
"Hi everyone," Shinobu said as she got home from school, not bothering to notice that only Sean and Kitsune were in the room.  
  
"How was your day?" Sean asked from his seat on the couch.  
  
"Exhausting," she said wearily. "I'm going up to my room and take a nap."  
  
"Alright. I can take care of dinner if need be."  
  
Shinobu nodded, then shuffled upstairs, yawning all the while.  
  
"She sure has been out of it lately, huh?" Kitsune said.  
  
"You got that right," Sean said. "Maybe she's working too hard on her schoolwork or something. I should talk to her about it after she wakes up." A few hours went by and Shinobu never left her room. Whether it was because she was asleep the whole time or for some other reason, he couldn't be sure. Granted, he could find out easily enough, but he wasn't one to invade a person's privacy without good reason. Besides, he thought of a different way to get his information: Naru, Kitsune and Motoko; the three that were in on the party five days before. After a brief interrogation, he found that none of them knew what Shinobu had planned, but Motoko did mention that she has sensed a strange energy coming from the girl's room over the last few days. This gave some clues, but he was still quite curious about what Shinobu could be doing that would require magic.  
  
--- 8:31 PM  
  
"Eat up!" Sean said, bringing dinner with him into the dining room, where everyone eagerly waited--well, almost everyone.  
  
"It's not often that you make dinner," Naru said.  
  
"I can when I have to, even though it may not exactly be Shinobu caliber." That called attention to the absent chef.  
  
"Yeah," Motoko said, noting Sean concerned expression. "I'm worried about her too. It's not like her to miss a meal."  
  
"That's usually because she's the one making it," Kitsune said.  
  
"Still, she must be getting hungry by now."  
  
"Not if she's still asleep," Sean muttered. Midway through the meal, Sean could have sworn that he saw Shinobu out of the corner of his eye heading into the kitchen, but when he turned to get a better look, she was nowhere to be seen.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Uh, nothing," he said, turning back around to face the group. "I just thought I saw something, that's all." Kitsune shrugged her shoulders, then went back to the food in front of her. "This whole Shinobu thing must be getting to me," he thought. "My eyes are starting to play tricks on me."  
  
Unbeknownst to everyone, Shinobu was peeking at them from the kitchen. "That was too close for comfort," she thought. "I should have turned invisible before I even left my room." She kept watching them (or at least one of them) through the end of the day, patiently waiting for a certain something to happen, which eventually did when Sean went to his room for the night. "Alright," she thought as she watched Sean enter his room, closing the door behind him. "Time to begin the final preparations."  
  
--- Thursday, 1/17 1:51 AM  
  
When Alicia woke up the next morning, she was completely unaware of another presence in the room until she heard a voice from nearby moments later.  
  
"Happy birthday, Sean."  
  
Alicia turned her head and found Shinobu kneeling next to her. "Is it my birthday again already?" she said sleepily. It took a few moments and a giggle from Shinobu to wake her up completely. "Why are you in here?" she asked.  
  
"I have a special surprise for you."  
  
"So that's why you've been so dodgy lately," Alicia said, starting to get up, but was forced back down flat on her futon. "What the…?"  
  
"Don't move yet."  
  
"Oookay," Alicia said, submitting to Shinobu's will. "What is this surprise of yours, exactly?"  
  
"You'll find out soon enough, but first close your eyes."  
  
"Why? My eyes must have been closed for the last couple hours."  
  
"I've only been in here for the last ten minutes or so, so I don't really know that. Close your eyes, please." She placed her hand over Alicia's eyes for added emphasis.  
  
"Okay, okay, they're closed."  
  
"Good. This will just be a minute." The next few moments went by in a deathly silence, and eventually, Alicia started to wonder if Shinobu was even in the room. "Okay," Shinobu finally said. "You can open your eyes now."  
  
Upon hearing Shinobu's voice Alicia quickly opened her eyes, mostly because the voice she heard was more mature than usual, but as her gaze fell on the other girl, she realized that her tone wasn't the only thing that had matured in the last minute; not by a longshot.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Shinobu asked, noticing Alicia, shocked expression.  
  
"Um, I…" That was it. Alicia's brain had stopped working altogether. All she could do was stare at Shinobu's body. She still wore the same nightgown as before, but it hadn't grown with her, so it suddenly became that much more… revealing.  
  
"Like what you see?" Shinobu asked. Of course, a verbal answer wasn't necessary. "You should. I studied what I looked like from the DVD Suu made of your fantasy those months ago. Over the last week, I've perfected the spell that would make me look like that for this very moment."  
  
"Why?" Alicia asked, having a brief lapse of conscious thought.  
  
"My young age, together with how much older you are than me has been on obstacle in our relationship from the very beginning. I figured if I was somehow able to shorten that gap in some way, it might make things easier for us, if even for a little while."  
  
"What do you intend to do?"  
  
"Something I've had been thinking about for a while now," she said, removing what turned out to be the only piece of clothing she had on, showing Alicia just how well endowed she had become.  
  
Allicia's eyes grew wide once again as she looked up and down Shinobu's naked, shapely figure. She found herself getting aroused by what she was seeing, but she refused to act on her hormones. "Shinobu, we shouldn't--" she started to say before Shinobu's lips suddenly met hers.  
  
"What were you going to say again?" Shinobu asked when she moved her head back slightly.  
  
Alicia couldn't believe what had just happened; her patented "Shinobu Silencing Technique" had just been used against her, with a similar result. "Nothing," was all she was able to say.  
  
"Good," Shinubo said as she raised the blanket to allow herself entrance and saw the state of dress--or rather, undress--Alicia was in. "When did you start sleeping naked?"  
  
"When I moved in here permanently, since I wouldn't have to worry about any incidents involving Naru, to say the very least."  
  
"Or just in case one of us should happen to show up for a late night rendezvous?"  
  
"Well, I hadn't thought of that, but now that I have, it does make things a bit more convenient, doesn't it?"  
  
"Yes, it does," Shinobu said, slipping under the covers. Their faces never got more than a foot apart from each other.  
  
"Wait, what if someone walks in on us like this?"  
  
"Then I guess we'll have an audience, won't we?"  
  
"But what if it's Naru and she tries to knock my head off?"  
  
"She'll have to get through me first,"  
  
"This is so wrong right now," Alicia said. The only response came when Shinobu kissed her again and started rubbing her body against Alicia's. "And I don't want to be right," she added, her resolve finally breaking down from the pleasant sensations flowing through her. She wrapped her arms around Shinobu and started doing some rubbing of her own.  
  
"I'm glad you like your birthday present," Shinobu said between heavy breaths caused by her own enjoyable experience.  
  
"Shut up and kiss me," Alicia said, pulling Shinobu's head downward, making contact with hers. The two would spend the next minute or two in a lip lock, but that would pale in comparison to how long they would spend in bed together making a good beginning to Sean's birthday; a very good beginning indeed.  
  
The next time anyone would see her again, Shinobu would have already changed back into her normal age, intending to never take that form again until she grew into it naturally. Of course, there was always Sean's birthday next year, and if she felt she hadn't developed enough, she might consider it. As for the other residents of Hinata-Sou, they would never find out about the gift that had been given that early January morning.  
  
End of Chapter XXXIV   
  
What did you think? See you next time! Please R&R! 


	36. Ch35: A DisStressful Valentine's

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Oh, man, I think I've outdone myself this time around. (In what respect, you'll see later on.)  
  
Chapter XXXV: A (Dis)Stressful Valentine's   
  
Thursday, 2/14 2:12 AM  
  
Alicia woke up that morning in the same way she has for almost a month now: with Shinobu at her side. Ever since her birthday, they've spent their nights together, though sleeping is the only thing they actually did. After a while however, such close proximity to such a cute girl would make some very awkward moments for her, and this morning would be no different.  
  
"Oh man," she thought as she looked down, underneath the blanket. Certain bodily fluids have made their presence felt; again. This early morning arousal has occurred so often recently, she couldn't even remember her last dry morning anymore. She glanced over at Shinobu; she was sleeping soundly as though nothing was happening. She has been completely unaware of what Alicia's been going through.  
  
She carefully got out of bed and cleaned up the mess she had made, silently thanking some higher power for being clothed while sharing the same bed as Shinobu. If not, the chances of the blue-haired girl finding out about it would have risen exponentially, especially since they have a tendency to snuggle up close to one another, and she felt the reaction to her condition was probably something she didn't want to see.  
  
"This is starting to get out of hand," she thought as she turned into Sean. "If this keeps up for much longer, I don't know if I'll be able to keep my hormones in check. I may have to spend some nights alone, or at least with someone who can really help me, though I don't want to hurt Shinobu's feelings." Ever since the adjustments to the sleeping arrangements, access to Kitsune and Motoko had been severed. "Maybe if she used that spell to become older--no, we both decided she'd never do that again. It's just not right for her to magically change her age just to be with me, no matter how much I enjoyed it." He forced the memory of that morning out of his mind for the time being, though he had quite a bit of difficulty in doing so, and the side-effects of such thoughts were easily apparent to anyone that should happen to bear witness to it. Luckily, the only other person in the room was fast asleep. "No matter how much I enjoyed it."  
  
He gazed at Shinobu and ran a hand through her hair. "I'll figure something out," he thought. "I damn well better. If not, the pressure could build to a point where I might force myself on you, and I'd never be able to forgive myself if I did that. I doubt the others would, either." He got up and headed out the door, pausing only to look at Shinobu one last time before closing the door.  
  
"I'm going to have to tell her at some point," he said to himself as he made his way down the hallway. "Secrets are never safe around here, and I'd rather divulge my information on my own terms. Nevertheless, I'm surprised nobody's noticed any change in my behavior. Granted, I've tried to keep my actions as they've always been, but they always seem to discover something at one point or another." He sighed as he drew nearer to the changing room, en route to cleaning the hot spring. "At least I'm not turned on all day long; I wouldn't be able to take the strain if I was." When he opened the door, he quickly saw that his problems were far from over on that particular day.  
  
"About damn time you showed up," A very naked Kitsune said.  
  
"Oh, shit," Sean thought, placing his hand over his face, mostly to shield his eyes from Kitsune's bare body. "This is not what I wanted to see this morning." In his effort to look away from her, he noticed a bunch of empty sake bottles strewn about the floor. This gave some idea as to how long she had been there, and the number of them that were still unopened showed just how long she was willing to stay, apparently waiting for his arrival. "Kitsune, what the hell are you doing in here?"  
  
"You mean you can't tell by looking at me?" she asked, drunkenly showing off her curves.  
  
"Clarify it for me," he said, somehow able to keep his cool, despite a certain something else giving away his inner emotions. This didn't go unnoticed by Kitsune; it didn't matter how drunk she was.  
  
"I think you know exactly why I'm here," she said, her usual grin on her face.  
  
"Oh, man," he thought as he reluctantly watched her saunter towards him. "She's do drunk she probably doesn't even know what inhibitions are right now; if she ever did." He watched as Kitsune stepped on one of the empty sake bottles, slipping as it flew out from under her foot. Instinctively, he rushed over and caught her before she made a face plant. "Don't worry, I got you."  
  
"You certainly do," she said, still smiling, her face pressed against his stomach. This got Sean wondering if she didn't do that on purpose. She confirmed his assumptions when she reached for his hips and yanked down both his sweatpants and underwear, exposing his manhood. Since he still had his arms wrapped around her, holding her up, there was nothing he could do to stop it.  
  
"Kitsune…" that was all he could get out before she acted once more. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing more of her body against him.  
  
"Perfect," she thought, observing where she was. She released her embrace, again relying on Sean to keep her semi-upright, and pressed her breasts together, sandwiching his erection between them.  
  
"Kitsune, what the are you doing?!"  
  
"Getting you ready," she simply said.  
  
"Ready for what?" The only response he got was Kitsune rubbing her breasts against him. "Kitsune…" he managed to say. It took all his effort to keep from moaning, but the heavy breathing just couldn't be helped. "Why is she doing this to me?" he thought. "I thought she was done with all this torture stuff." "Kitsune, please don't do this," he said out loud.  
  
"Why?" She asked.  
  
That simple question left Sean with the task of trying to find a convincing excuse other than, "I'm waking up aroused every morning and you're not helping." This proved to be a very demanding undertaking, since Kitsune was unrelenting in what she was doing, and keeping his mind on track was next to impossible. Eventually, he gave up on trying to find an excuse and decided to plead. "Please stop," he begged. "I can't take much more of this!" This was more true than he'd care to admit.  
  
Much to his surprise and relief, she released him from her special grip and got up on her own two feet. It was as though she was waiting to hear those exact words. As she stood up straight, their eyes met. Sean noticed that the look in her eyes was different from her usual torture sessions. "Sean, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," she said. "Well, actually," she added, her face turning red. "it's two things." She held the back of his head and kissed him like there was no tomorrow. A few moments went by and she finally separated. "I'm in love with you, Sean," she said, quickly holding him in a tight embrace.  
  
"She's in love with me?" he thought, not believing his ears. Granted, they've had quite a few intimate moments together in the past, but it's always been a purely physical relationship, or at least that's what he thought. Kitsune's confession came as quite a shock to his system, but the second thing she had to say would threaten to send him into cardiac arrest.  
  
Feeling Sean slowly return the hug made Kitsune a bit more comfortable with what she wanted to say. She moved her mouth close to his ear and whispered the second part of her message: "I want you inside me."  
  
"You WHAT?!" Sean asked, breaking contact. "Run that by me again; I don't think I heard you right."  
  
"I want you inside me," she repeated. "I want us to make sweet love right here, right now."  
  
Now, the thought of having sex with Kitsune wasn't exactly foreign to Sean, but he had always resigned to it being just that; a thought. Now that he had a very real opportunity to make his thought a reality, he knew he had a difficult choice to make. Should he give in to temptation, throw caution to the wind, and have his way with the gorgeous woman standing before him? Of course, there were the downsides to this idea. What would happen if Shinobu found out? What if he got Kitsune pregnant? There were just too many unknown consequences, and he knew it. "I'm sorry," he said, "I can't. We can't."  
  
"But why not?" Kitsune said, on the verge of tears. "We could be so happy together, why don't you want that?"  
  
"Because I'm with Shinobu. I promised I'd save myself for her, you know that."  
  
"But Sean, why would you want to wait so long for her to come of age when you can have me right now?"  
  
She had a good point. For this entire ordeal (especially after Kitsune's confession/request), there has been an intense battle for control within Sean. His mind kept saying that it wasn't right; that he had to remain faithful to Shinobu, but his body was being… very contradictory. With his body pretty much aching for release at this point, he knew he couldn't hold out forever.  
  
"Sean, please," Kitsune said. "I want you so badly right now."  
  
"Kitsune, wait." Sean knew he had to stop this whole thing before something happened that couldn't be undone. "You should wait for the one you plan to be with for the rest of your life."  
  
She rested her hands on his shoulders and looked deep into his eyes. "That's the idea."  
  
Sean's eyes grew wide as he realized Kitsune's intentions. "You can't be serious."  
  
"I've never been more serious about anything in my life."  
  
"That's it! I'm outta here!" Sean tried to walk out, but having his pants down at his ankles kept him from getting anywhere anytime soon. Oh, and Kitsune having a death grip on his arm didn't help, either.  
  
"NO!" She screamed. "I won't let you go!"  
  
"Kitsune, quiet down before you wake up the whole house!" Sean said through his teeth.  
  
"I don't care! I'm not going to let you leave me hanging like this!"  
  
"I guess you leave me with no other option," Sean said with a sigh.  
  
"You mean you'll do me?"  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"What?" Sean snapped his fingers in Kitsune's face, and her body went limp. He then passed a hand over her body and she vanished without a trace.  
  
"I'm sorry I had to do that," Sean thought. "but you were out of control. You shouldn't let your hormones get the better of you; I should know." He looked at the mess around him. "Looks like I'll have to clean this up… But first a shower is in order. A nice, cold shower." He stepped out of his pants and removed his shirt as he made his way to the showers. "Why do I get the feeling that this day's only going to get worse?"  
  
--- 5:51 AM  
  
Motoko walked up the steps to the roof to find Sean leaning against the rail, staring out at the skyline. "Hello, Sean." He looked over at her, nodded, then turned his gaze back to the horizon. "Is something troubling you?"  
  
"Something, someone, same difference."  
  
"'Someone'?"  
  
"Never mind, it's none of your concern."  
  
Motoko walked over and stood next to him. "If someone here is giving you a hard time, you need to tell someone about it."  
  
"Someone like you, perhaps?"  
  
"Um, well…"  
  
"And what would you do, exactly? Your methods of discipline aren't exactly appealing. I should know; I've been subject to it more than once. If you don't mind, I'd like to deal with this myself. This is a personal matter and…" He had to make sure he didn't reveal too much. "…it would be humiliating for all parties should anyone else find out."  
  
"I understand. I won't pry any further if you feel that way about it. Is there any other way I can be of some help?"  
  
He turned to look at her for just the second time since she arrived, and smiled for the first. "You know, I think there is."  
  
---  
  
"Are you sure about this?" Motoko asked as Sean led her into her room.  
  
"I sure hope so," he said, making sure they weren't followed before closing the door behind them.  
  
"But we usually do this only on weekends."  
  
"Well, I need to clear my mind of what's troubling me for now, and with you, I can think of only one way to do that."  
  
"As you wish," she said as they made their way to the PlayStation set up in the far corner of the room and entered the video game arena they have become familiar with over the last couple months. (Suu let them keep one of the older models of the game system there to better protect their privacy during their training sessions. They both agreed that the lack of an audience would greatly help the process.)  
  
"Are you ready?" He asked after taking a sword from the trunk.  
  
"Of course," Motoko said; she brought her own sword from the outside.  
  
"Thanks for always letting me let off steam when I have to."  
  
"I'm glad I can help."  
  
Sean nodded. "Let's do this." He then charged his sparring partner and their latest battle began.  
  
Motoko couldn't help but notice that he has gotten much better with the sword in recent times. In fact, if she hadn't increased in skill herself, he might actually have been a match for her without magical aid. Of course, that wasn't the case, so their sessions would always end up with Sean getting the short end and, a few times, needing to get regenerated.  
  
This latest bout looked like it wouldn't be any different, as Motoko expertly dodged Sean's attacks and connecting with a few of her own, the last one being a ki blast that sent him skyward. This gave her the chance to use her final attack. "CUTTING EVIL STRIKE, SECOND FORM!!" (Bear in mind, she's still working out the kinks of that move.) Right after she unleashed her attack, she broke out into a run to make sure her opponent's landing wouldn't be as rough as it could be. She knew he would just come back from the dead in this artificial world if need be, but she wanted to keep it to a minimum.  
  
Sean, barely aware of anything at this point, saw Motoko dash for where his eventual point of impact would be and make a diving catch comparable to that of a major league outfielder. The combined momentums of the two caused them to roll along the ground for a ways. "I guess you win again," he said with a smile after they came to a halt.  
  
"Are you alright?" Motoko asked the man who was lying flat on his back.  
  
"I'll live," he said, gazing at the young woman kneeling over him, checking for lasting injuries. Luckily, there were none. Suddenly, he felt a strong gust run through his body. He thought this was odd, as he didn't include such weather patterns into his designs. He looked in the direction from where it came, but found nothing. "Hey, Motoko, did you feel that just now?" he asked, still searching for the source.  
  
"Yes, I did," Motoko said.  
  
Sean looked back at her and didn't know what to be more shocked about; the fact that there was nothing left of her gi but tatters, exposing pretty much everything, or that she was so calm about it. "Motoko, what happened to your clothes?!"  
  
"Maybe you should ask yourself the same thing," she replied.   
  
It was at that instant that Sean realized that he was in the same boat as she was. "How did that happen?" he asked, using his hands to cover himself up.  
  
She just shrugged her shoulders. "Apparently, he doesn't know that I can control the speed of my ki attacks," Motoko thought. (I never said where she was aiming her strike, did I?) If Sean was more aware of things while he was airborne, he would have noticed her taking a curved route to his landing site.  
  
Sean saw Motoko notice his reaction to seeing her in her current state of undress. "Um, maybe I should go before--"  
  
"You don't have to," Motoko said with a calmness that was unsettling to Sean. "I don't mind you seeing me, and I didn't think you'd mind me seeing you."  
  
"You mean you did this?! But why?!" He saw the way she was looking at him, and couldn't shake the feeling of déjà vu. "Where have I seen that look before?" he thought. Suddenly, it came to him: Kitsune. "No," his thoughts continued. "It can't be…"  
  
"Thank you for giving me the chance to show you how I really feel about you," she said.  
  
"Was she planning this the whole time?!" Sean thought. "I didn't want to go through all this again!" His thoughts were halted when Motoko placed her hands on his cheeks and gave his a passionate kiss. "What about Keitaro?" He asked when they eventually separated. "I thought you had feelings for him."  
  
"I've given up on that battle long ago; there's no way I can beat Naru. Besides, I think that since I wasn't used to the feeling, I made it out to be bigger than it was, but with you, I know exactly what my heart's telling me."  
  
"I was afraid of that," Sean thought as he watched and felt Motoko run a finger down his chest… and his stomach… and… "WHOA!!"  
  
"Is something wrong?" Motoko asked, gently stroking his member. "Is this not enjoyable?"  
  
"Yeah, it is, it was just… unexpected, that's all." Motoko continued her actions, bringing his arousal back up to where Kitsune left off. "I can't believe she's doing this," he thought. "Kitsune, sure, but Motoko?!" He knew he had to somehow make another escape before anything happened, and at the rate things were going, he had to be quick about it, but when he tried, Motoko became somewhat less gentle. "AH! Not so rough!"  
  
"Don't make this harder than it has to be," Motoko said, maintaining a tight grip on him.  
  
"Interesting choice of words," Sean thought.  
  
"There's something I need to tell you." Sean nodded, signifying he was listening--as if he had a choice. "Men are born with a sword, and every sword needs a sheath…"  
  
"Oh God, please don't say it," Sean thought.  
  
"…and I want you to use mine." She said it.  
  
"Motoko, what's gotten into you?!"  
  
"Nothing but my love for you," Motoko said. "Please, add more to that."  
  
"I don't want to do this," Sean said, despite his body's constant pleas to the contrary. "You know my heart belongs to another."  
  
"I'm not asking for your heart," she said. "Unless I'm mistaken, Shinobu said she didn't want you to go through the stress of waiting for her to come of age."  
  
"True, but that was before I found another way to take care of that."  
  
"But we haven't been together in so long, I hate to think what it's done to you."  
  
"If only you knew," he thought. "That's because I've been spending my nights with Shinobu."  
  
"You mean you and her have--"  
  
"No, we haven't." He knew that was a lie, but she didn't. "Could you let go of me please?!" She did, only to go back to the gentle caresses. "MOTOKO!!"  
  
"What?" She asked innocently. "You only said to let go."  
  
"I just had to be beaten by a technicality," he thought bitterly. He could feel his time drawing near. If he was to make a clean getaway, he had to do it now, but how? If he tried to squirm away, she'd just tighten her grip on him again. There had to be another way, and he may have thought of it.  
  
Sensing Sean getting closer and closer to climax, and she figured that if he wasn't going to make her complete, she would have to do it herself. Well, something did end up getting inserted into her, just not what she expected. The look of surprise on her face was obvious when she saw Sean jab a dagger into her chest. (In case you're wondering, in this dimension, blood cannot be shed.) "Sean, what are you doing?!"  
  
"Stopping this before it goes too far."  
  
"But why?"  
  
"I'll give it to you straight," Sean said, partially improvising. "If you had gone about all this in a different way, I might have been more willing, but I don't want to be forced to have sex with anyone."  
  
Tears started to fall from Motoko's eyes. "I'm sorry."  
  
"Me too." Sean watched as Motoko's body faded away. "Well, that worked," he said as he stood up and regained his composure. "I guess another cold shower is in order." He then disappeared from the video game world.  
  
---  
  
A few minutes later, Motoko reappeared and instinctively looked at her chest. There was no dagger, no open wound, not even a scar. "So that's what it feels like to die in a video game," she muttered. "I can't believe he'd pull such an underhanded stunt!" This got her thinking. "Though I suppose I was a bit devious as well." She looked around and saw that she was in her room; and also that Sean was nowhere to be seen. As she changed out of what was left of her gi, her thoughts turned to what had transpired. "He wanted to do it, I'm sure of it," she said to herself. "But he's right. I can't force myself on him and expect to get anywhere. I have to change my tactics."  
  
After putting on some regular clothes, she left her room with intentions of finding the man she cared for and try to make amends. As she passed by Kitsune's room, the door opened and said woman stormed out. She had just woken up minutes before from Sean's spell-induced slumber. Like Motoko, her thoughts had quickly turned to said man and after making herself somewhat decent, set out to find him as well, but her intentions were, shall we say, less diplomatic. "Is something wrong, Kitsune?" Motoko asked, noticing her upset expression.  
  
"Have you seen Sean?"  
  
"Well, we had a training session not too long ago, but I don't know where he went after that. I was actually looking for him myself."  
  
"I'm checking his room," Kitsune said in a determined tone.  
  
"I don't think that's such a good idea."  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"Shinobu's probably in there."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"You really want to wake her up?"  
  
Kitsune looked confused. "What?"  
  
"Well, she's been sleeping in his room with him for a while now."  
  
"She's WHAT?! I should have known that whole innocence thing was just an act!"  
  
"Not exactly," Motoko said. "According to Sean, sleeping is all that happens."  
  
"I guess I can believe it for now if it's from him. Let's split up and search the house for him."  
  
"Yeah, and we can ask Shinobu later on," Motoko added.  
  
--- 6:32 AM  
  
Shinobu woke up to a deceptively peaceful morning. Looking around, she saw Sean sitting against a wall wearing headphones, listening to music. His eyes were closed, so he probably didn't know Shinobu was awake. Slowly, she made her way closer to her. Much to her surprise, when she made contact with him, he flinched violently. When he opened his eyes and saw who it was, he breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
"Oh, it's you," he said. "Thank God."  
  
"Is something wrong?"  
  
"This morning just got off to a… stressful start, that's all."  
  
"Is there anything I can do to help?"  
  
"I'll be alright. Music helps me calm down."  
  
"Would you like to help me make breakfast?"  
  
"If you don't mind, I'd like to stay in here. And when you see the others, don't tell them I'm in here."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"I just feel like being alone for a while."  
  
"You don't want me around, either?"  
  
Sean smiled. "Alright, you're exempt."  
  
"I'll try to come back before I head off to school." After seeing him nod, she left to start preparing the morning meal.  
  
"At least she's still acting normal," Sean muttered. "Maybe this day's looking up." Fat chance.  
  
---  
  
As the day went by, things just kept getting more and more peculiar to the resident chef. When she served breakfast, she noticed that Motoko and Kitsune were quite on edge, and they asked her about Sean's whereabouts the first chance they got. True to her word, she feigned ignorance, but it got her thinking as to why they asked and why Sean told her not to tell. Did Kitsune and Motoko do something to him that morning? She rolled the info she had in her head while she was at school, and she decided to ask him about it later on.  
  
Meanwhile, on the home front, while everyone else was at school, Kitsune took advantage and proceeded to go through the whole house with a fine toothed comb. If Sean was there to be seen, she was going to find him; and when she did he would be hers, and only hers. Luckily, Sean had the foresight to turn invisible just in case such a thing would happen. Watching her search high and low for him brought some much needed humor to his day. Eventually, she gave up, thinking that he'd have to show his face sooner or later.  
  
--- 8:51 PM  
  
Motoko walked into her room after dinner. Anyone could tell she had been getting depressed throughout the day. She sighed as she went out onto her balcony and stared out at the stars. "Was what I did that bad?" she thought. "Sure, I might have been a bit too forward, but I just had to tell him how I felt about him." A tear started to run down her face. "If I had known he would fall off the face of the earth afterwards, I--" A sound from below halted her thoughts.  
  
"Uh, Sean?" Motoko recognized Shinobu's voice. "Are you in here?"  
  
"Yeah," Sean's voice said. Motoko looked on as his body appeared at the balcony directly beneath hers. She knew it wasn't right to listen in on the impending conversation, but she had neither seen him nor heard his voice and she couldn't help herself. Soon after Sean materialized, she saw Shinobu walk up beside him.  
  
"What's going on, Sean?" Shinobu asked, snuggling up close to him.  
  
"I've just been thinking about what's happened."  
  
"Are you going to tell me about it?"  
  
"I guess you might as well know." He sighed before he continued. "I'm sure you've noticed Kitsune and Motoko acting a bit weird, right?"  
  
"Sure, that's what got me wondering in the first place."  
  
"Well, the day started like any other. I went out to go clean the hot spring… and that's when it all started to go downhill."  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"Not what; who. Kitsune was there, naked and drunker than I don't know what."  
  
"What did she do?" Shinobu asked. Motoko wondered the same thing.  
  
"Well, she tried to have sex with me."  
  
"Her too?" Motoko thought. "No wonder he freaked out like he did."  
  
"Is she back to torturing you?" Shinobu asked.  
  
Sean shook his head. "I don't think so. I think she was dead serious about it. She wanted me for herself, and wasn't about to let anything stop her; or at least nothing I could say."  
  
Motoko hung her head. She knew she was guilty of exactly the same thing. "He asked me to help and all I did was make his problems worse," she thought.  
  
"Well," Shinobu started, afraid to ask. "Did she… have her way with you?"  
  
"No. Thankfully, I was able to escape, though it did come quite close."  
  
"Thank goodness," Shinobu said. Motoko thought the same thing.  
  
"But that was just part one," Sedan said, regaining the attention of both girls. "And part two was more upsetting to me." Motoko flinched. "I spent the next three and a half hours thinking about what had happened. At that point, Motoko found me, and I figured a training session with her would clear my mind. Little did I know, I was setting myself up for another round."  
  
"You mean--"  
  
"Yeah, Motoko tried to have her way with me. After some strange chain of events, we both ended up with shredded clothing. Apparently, Motoko had a hand in doing it, but I'm still trying to figure that one out. Anyway, she was as aggressive as she always is. I did end up escaping like with Kitsune, but I definitely had a… harder time doing it."  
  
"You did?"  
  
"Yeah," Sean's face turned red. "She had a tight grip on the situation, if you catch my drift."  
  
"How did you get away?"  
  
"Well, if we weren't in that video game, I probably wouldn't have without being brought up on charges, since I'm pretty sure sticking a knife in someone's chest is illegal. I'm glad I thought of it when I did, 'cuz if I had hesitated for just a minute longer, she would have succeeded in what she set out to do."  
  
"Auu…" Shinobu said, hugging Sean just a little bit tighter.  
  
"I know. The thing I can't understand is, why now all of a sudden? And why both of them in the same day?"  
  
"SEAN!" Motoko's voice startled the two, along with her jumping from her balcony, landing right in front of them. She quickly bowed to them. "I'm sorry for what I almost did to you this morning. I don't know what's come over me. It was wrong for me to force myself on you like I did, but I felt like I had no other choice. I wanted you with every fiber of my being, and to be honest," Motoko blushed brightly. "I still do. Please, I hope you can forgive me."  
  
Sean walked over to her and held her hand in his. "Motoko, let me tell you something. I've been having those feelings as well."  
  
"You have?"  
  
"Yes. In fact, it started not too long after Shinobu and I started sharing the same futon."  
  
"So you're saying you HAVE--"  
  
"No I have not," Sean said through his teeth. "I even turn into my female form to eliminate the risk of that happening. Trust me, I'd never forgive myself if I raped her in her sleep, much less my own." He turned his gaze to Shinobu. "I'm actually surprised you haven't found out sooner." Sean's face turned a bright shade of red. "I've had to… clean up after myself many mornings." He stopped to let his embarrassment fade.  
  
"If you've been having these feelings, why haven't you come to me or Kitsune to help you?" Motoko asked.  
  
"I didn't want to risk hurting Shinobu's feelings. I've been thinking that she may have been the cause."  
  
"Me?" Shinobu asked, surprised at what he said.  
  
"Well, I have been in pretty close contact with you for a while now."  
  
"Sean, I know that I cannot force you to do anything," Motoko said. "but I still wish for you to make me a woman. I do not know how long I can keep these impulses contained before I lash out and force myself on you again, so I formally ask you: will you fulfill my request?"  
  
"NOT UNTIL HE FUCKS ME FIRST!" All present turn to the door to find Kitsune in the doorway. It looked like her desires have taken complete control of her over the course of the day. "You got away from me this morning," she said as she stalked towards her prey. "but I won't let it happen again."  
  
"Oh, crap," Sean thought out loud, looking for an escape route. Kitsune was in the direct line to the door, so that was out, and jumping over the rail didn't exactly sound appealing. He was just considering his last resort magical tactics when a voice could be heard.  
  
"Sean!" Everyone with the line of sight looked outside to see Suu flying towards them on a jetpack. "Grab my hand!" Without a second thought, he obeyed, and as soon as he was secure, the two soared high into the night sky.  
  
"Thanks, Suu," Sean said. As he looked at his rescuer, he noticed something amiss. "Um, your face looks… different." Without a word, she pointed to the moon, which seemed to glow red. This only confused him more. "But how--"  
  
"I'll explain later," Suu said. "But for now…" Sean noticed a peculiar, yet familiar look in her eyes…  
  
---  
  
"Let's see you get out of this one," Stephanie (goddess of love, remember?) said as she watch everything on the big screen TV in her bedroom. In fact, all the events that happened that day were caused by her. She had looked into the hearts of Motoko, Kitsune and minutes earlier, Suu, and found that they all had certain feelings for their landlord. All she did was amplify them and bring them to the surface. She even got Sean's hormones working harder as of late to make things more difficult for him. This was intended to test Sean's will, and he had surpassed her every expectation. "I've got to hand it to him," she muttered as, somehow, Sean escaped Suu's clutches with the chastity of both of them still intact. "As far as sexual temptation is concerned, he's armored like a frickin' tank! He certainly earned my respect, but I've never failed to get someone to cave in before, and I'm not about to give up now, I just have to think of something better to use against him…"  
  
---  
  
Naru and Keitaro were studying in Naru's room when they heard all the commotion coming from outside. "Should we be concerned about that?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"If it doesn't concern us, we shouldn't get involved," Naru said. "Honestly, we need to ask Sean to sound proof our rooms so we don't have to deal with all the crap that goes on around here as much."  
  
End of Chapter XXXV   
  
What did I tell you? Anyway, this is the last holiday chapter I have lined up, and I've got something special planned for next time. See you then! Please R&R! Let's see if we can break the 100 review mark. 


	37. INT: Home Movies

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
YAY! 100 reviews at last! (Should I be worried that I have a goth praying?)  
  
Anyway, as a reward for getting through all those holiday chapters (both you and me), I've got a surpsie for you. Enjoy the show!  
  
Intermission: Home Movies   
  
Wednesday, 2/27 10: 12 AM  
  
"I hate times like this," Sean muttered to himself as he walked in the front door. Alas, he was the only one there at that time. All the students were in class and Kitsune was at a meeting. This left him some time to himself, and he wasn't enjoying it. He had gotten so used to having at least SOMEONE to keep him company for most of the day, suddenly being completely alone was unsettling. Just now, he had gotten so desperate, he went to the tea shop to see if he could help out, but Haruka said that the "help" she was getting from Seta was enough. Therefore, Sean was pretty much back to square one as far as finding something to occupy his time was concerned.  
  
After he flopped down on the couch, he calmed his mind and focused; he wasn't about to just sit around doing nothing for who knows how long. In his mind, he went through the whole house, looking for something, anything to do. Suddenly, it came to him, and he got up and rushed upstairs to Keitaro's room. "How could I have forgotten about it for this long?" he asked himself as he made his way to a closet, though it appeared to be more of a vault than anything else; there wasn't even a door handle or anything. To the common man, it was a strong defense for a person's valuables, but to Sean, it was a minor deterrent. He waved his hand in front of the door and it vanished before him. Inside, he saw rows upon rows of CD towers that seemed to go on forever, though only a small portion of them had any discs in them. Each tower that actually contained anything had thirty or so discs in them, and each of the discs were marked with a date. "Watching some of these should help pass the time. It could also be quite entertaining."  
  
These DVDs were being created by a system Sean implemented months before. Each movie contained the highlights of each day since his arrival. (Though it took a bit more effort to put in what had already happened up to that point.) He couldn't remember why he had done it (hell, he even forgot about the whole thing not long after it was made), but he was grateful for it at that moment. He walked over to the first tower, picked out a couple videos and walked out of the extra-dimensional space. Turning around, he waved his hand, making the steel door reappear, then when he clenched his fist, the whole apparatus shrunk down to a two inch cube, then detached itself from the wall and floated into his hand. "I guess I'll need to move this into my new room."  
  
When he got into said room, he found a good section of wall and sent the cube flying towards it, growing back to normal size upon impact. "I should have started watching these things sooner," he said, putting the first movie into his laptop. "That is why I did this in the first place, right?" He clicked play and saw the living room appear on the screen.  
  
--- Sunday, 6/17/2007 3:32 PM  
  
The front door opened and three girls entered, carrying bags full of groceries. "I can't believe we have to get everything ourselves," Kitsune said. "Why can't we get someone else to do this for us?"  
  
"Well," Naru reasoned. "Since grandma Hina left on that worldwide tour a couple months ago, we'll just have to fend for ourselves until we get a new landlord."  
  
"Haruka did say someone would be showing up pretty soon, right?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah. Apparently, she found someone who's qualified and will be getting here one of these days."  
  
"I wonder what he'll be like," Kitsune thought out loud.  
  
"He?" Naru asked warily. "Are you hoping it's a guy?"  
  
"I was using it as a generic term, but now that you brought it up, it would be fun to have a man around the house."  
  
"A man living here is the worst idea you could ever come up with," Naru said. "The last thing we need is a pervert running around trying to catch a quick peek."  
  
"Aw, come on. You must admit things have been getting a tad boring as of late. Even Suu's destructive tendencies have almost disappeared altogether. We need something to spice up life around here and a man might just be the ticket. Besides, not all men are perverts."  
  
"Try telling Motoko that. She wouldn't agree to it if she had a gun to her head."  
  
"What's your opinion, Shinobu?" Kitsune asked, startling the young girl, almost dropping her groceries.  
  
"Um," She started blushing. "I guess I wouldn't mind…"  
  
"That's the spirit! Hey, you're starting to get to that age, aren't you?" This caused Shinobu's face to grow even redder.  
  
"Kitsune, stop pestering the poor girl," Naru said.  
  
"Alright, alright." The three made it to the kitchen and dropped off the items.  
  
"Thank you for helping me," Shinobu said timidly. "I can take care of it from here."  
  
"No problem," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, I'm off to my room," Naru said.  
  
"Studying again?" Kitsune said.  
  
"Of course. Getting into Tokyo U isn't easy, you know."  
  
"Yeah, yeah. So, when is the entrance exam go to be, anyway?" Kitsune said.  
  
"In two months," Naru responded.  
  
"Are you going to be studying the whole time?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Probably."  
  
"Well, you can worry about study time later," Kitsune said. "Hey, who's up for a dip in the springs?"  
  
"Yeah, sure," the other two said.  
  
"I'll meet you there," Kitsune said, running in the wrong direction. "I haven't had a drink in a while, so I'm due."  
  
"One of these days, she'll drink herself sick," Naru muttered. After leaving Shinobu in the kitchen to finish up with the groceries, she went into the changing room. When she stepped out into the hot springs after changing into a towel, she noticed someone had already gotten there. Due to the perpetual haze, combined with her not wearing her glasses (the only thing fogged up glasses are good for is being funny, trust me), she assumed it was Kitsune. "Dang," she thought. "That sure was fast." "Oh," she said out loud. "I thought I would be the first one here. Oh well, we can just sit and talk until the others get here." As she got closer, discarding the towel in the process, she noticed that not only had Kitsune not responded, she didn't even move an inch. The thing that piqued her curiosity the most was what she wore on her head. "Hey, what's with the blindfold? Did something happen to your eyes just now, or what?"  
  
After she removed said item from "Kitsune's" head and she opened her eyes, Naru knew something was off. "Hey, wait a sec," she said, narrowing her eyes. "There's something different about you. Where are my glasses?" When she retrieved her specs, she quickly realized that this wasn't Kitsune she was looking at. Hell, she wasn't even a she. Time froze at that moment. There she was, a naked woman being looked at by a man she didn't know. You can guess what happens next. Emitting a blood-curdling scream, she charged the already frightened man and punched him square in the forehead. His body skipped along the water's surface a time of two before he hit his head on a rock, where he came to a rest.  
  
"Of all the-- I can't believe--" she muttered. She was so angry, she couldn't form full sentences. She moved over to deliver the final blow when she heard something behind her.  
  
"Naru, are you alright?" For Naru, anger quickly gave way to panic. She wasn't sure what would happen if she was caught in the hot spring with a man, much less a dead one, and she wasn't eager to find out. Quickly, she hid Sean behind a rock, making sure his head stayed above water before thinking of some reason for the scream. Her time ran out sooner than she thought when Kitsune and Shinobu rushed out to see what was the matter.  
  
"Why were you screaming?" Shinobu asked.  
  
Naru had to think of something on the spot and settled for a half-truth. "I thought I saw something out here."  
  
"Where?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Over there," Naru said, deliberately pointing away from where Sean was hid. While Shinobu and Kitsune had their backs turned, she regained her composure and gathered her thoughts.  
  
"There's nothing out here," Kitsune said. "I swear, you're studying way too hard. You're getting paranoid."  
  
"Maybe," Naru said, suddenly fascinated by the water. She hated to lie to her best friend, but the truth would be harder to believe.  
  
"C'mon, Shinobu," Kitsune said. "Let's leave Naru alone to settle her nerves."  
  
"I hope you feel better," Shinobu said, bowing, then vacated the hot spring, leaving Naru alone with her thoughts.  
  
"Well, that went rather smoothly," she thought, walking back to Sean. "Now, what should I do about him?" Suddenly, it came to her. She would let him wake up, explain the reasons for his misdeeds (as if she didn't know already) and deliver an appropriate punishment. The only thing left to decide was, where should he wake up?  
  
---  
  
Sean watched in awe as, somehow, Naru was able to carry his lifeless body from the hot spring up to her room without being spotted. "I thought that scream of hers was too loud not to be heard by someone," he said. As an afterthought, he added, "Was Shinobu really that shy back then? Man, she's certainly come a long way."  
  
--- (7:50 PM)  
  
Naru led a now awake and somewhat nervous Sean from the landlord's room to the dining room. All the way, she kept looking over the letter he had given her, verifying his new status as landlord. "This thing can't be real," she kept thinking. "It just can't be! A man being the landlord of a girls dorm?!" No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't find anything artificial about it, including Haruka's signature. If it was a forgery, it was a damn good one.  
  
When they neared the dining room, Naru stopped Sean short. "Stay out of sight for now," she whispered. Seeing him nod in understanding, she made her presence known to the others, who were waiting for her.  
  
"About time you got here," Kitsune said. "You have been acting strange all day long. What's the deal?"  
  
"Well, you know we've been waiting for a new landlord, right?"  
  
"Yeah, and?"  
  
Naru crossed her arms and glanced in Sean's direction. "It seems we may have just gotten one, but I'm really struggling to believe it."  
  
"Aw, come on, it can't be that bad."  
  
"We'll see. Come on out."  
  
Sean walked up next to her. "Uh, hey."  
  
"WHAT?!" Motoko yelled. "You expect us to believe that this… MAN is our new landlord?!"  
  
"Here," Naru said, tossing the paper to them. "See for yourself." As everyone read it, realizing the significance it held, they reacted in different ways, not the least of which being a certain samurai springing from her seat and in an instant, held her sword to Sean's neck.  
  
"I don't know what kind of perverted stunt you're trying to pull, but if you don't leave right now, I'll cut you down where you stand!"  
  
"Hey, is that really necessary?!" A terrified Sean asked.  
  
"That document must be a fake! No one would ever realistically hire a man to be landlord of a girls dorm!"  
  
"Hmm," Kitsune mused, examining the paper. "No doubt about it, this is the real deal. No one could ever forge Haruka's signature."  
  
"Even so, I refuse to let this man live here!"  
  
"I think we should give him a chance." Everyone turned in shock at Shinobu. Suddenly finding everyone's attention on her caused her to blush heavily. "Um, we do need a landlord, don't we?"  
  
"She does have a point, as much as I hate to admit it," Naru said, moving to look at Sean face to face. "Maybe we can tolerate you being here for now, but if it turns out you aren't who you claim to be, we will be ruthless in our punishment. Do you understand?"  
  
"Why do I have the feeling you might do that anyway?" Sean thought out loud, glancing at the weapon still poised against him.  
  
"DO YOU UNDERSTAND?!!"  
  
"Yes, ma'am!"  
  
"Good. Now, let's eat. I'm starving."  
  
"Before we do, there's still one thing I want to ask you," Motoko said, removing her sword from Sean's neck. "What makes you qualified to be landlord?"  
  
"Does a business degree work?"  
  
"So, you've graduated from college huh?" Kitsune asked, stroking her chin.  
  
"Just last month."  
  
"I suppose if you have the discipline to get through college, I think you might do," Motoko pointed her sword at him. "but that doesn't mean I trust you, so if you do anything perverted, don't expect any mercy."  
  
"Point taken," he said as he watched Motoko sheathe her sword and return to her seat. It was at this point that Shinobu noticed that something was wrong.  
  
"I-I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't have anything prepared for you. If I had known--"  
  
"You know what," Sean cut in, seeing the young girl start to panic. "don't worry about it. That little life or death moment kinda killed my appetite. I wouldn't mind just staying here, getting to know you all a little better."  
  
Shinobu blushed a little. "I could get you something later on, maybe…"  
  
"Sounds like a plan." Sean said, smiling. He watched, somewhat amused as Shinobu's face grew so red it might have been able to light up a room. After the introductions have been made, he took his leave and went back to his room to finish unpacking. With that done, he went out onto the balcony and gazed out at the darkening horizon. "Well, this sure is something," he thought out loud after a while.  
  
"It certainly is," a voice said from disturbingly close behind him. He quickly turned around to see a soon-to-be familiar grin.  
  
"Oh, it's you, Kitsune," he said. "What's up?"  
  
"Oh, I was just checking to see if our new landlord has settled in yet." She stood next to him. "Nice view, huh?"  
  
"Yeah." Sean couldn't help but wonder what she was referring to.  
  
"Naru told us about what happened in the hot spring."  
  
"That must have been good for a laugh. Let me guess; she said she found me in the hot spring, I saw her naked, and then she knocked me out in one shot. How accurate is that?"  
  
"That's the gist of it."  
  
Sean rolled his eyes. "Figures."  
  
"Is there more to the story?"  
  
"Well, let me tell you my side. I was in that hot spring for a good half hour before any of you showed up. When Naru got there, I couldn't see anything if I wanted to because I was wearing a blindfold. Yes, I admit, I did end up seeing her, but it wasn't me who took off that blindfold." Sean frowned a bit. "Some nerve that girl has calling me a pervert."  
  
"Is that so?" Kitsune stroked her chin. "Well, after Naru told her tale, everyone--well, Naru and Motoko mainly--decided that you will be forbidden to use the hot springs from now on."  
  
"Fat chance."  
  
"What was that?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"You heard me. I plan on being out there in the future. That place is very relaxing. Take today for example; my commute took a lot out of me (more than you realize), and that place felt like heaven until that girl brought me down to hell and back."  
  
"What do you plan to do when the others catch you there?"  
  
"I don't think I'll have to worry about that. I'm quite the early riser, and I doubt anyone will be awake, much less taking a bath a two, three in the morning."  
  
"Wow," Kitsune thought. She had to admit, the guy had balls to defy Naru and Motoko like he was doing. "Let's just hope he gets to keep them." Suddenly, something caught her eye. "Hey what's that?"  
  
"Hmm?" Sean asked, curious about what got her interest.  
  
"That ring," she said, pointing at his hand. "Are you married?"  
  
"Nah," he said. "Far from it."  
  
"You mean you've never thought about getting hitched before?"  
  
"Well sure, but I've never…" Sean's face turned pink.  
  
"Never what?" It took a moment for her to catch on. "Have a girlfriend?" Sean hung his head. "Not even been out on a date?" He shook his head. "Why not?"  
  
"Well, in case you can't tell by looking at me, I'm not exactly the pick of the litter."  
  
"Looks aren't everything, you know."  
  
"Yeah, I've been telling myself that for years. Also, I've never really been interested in it in the past for some reason."  
  
"Aw, come on, you can't tell me the only reason you went to college was to get an education." Sean just looked at her. "Oh my God, you can."  
  
"The way I see it, if a girl likes me, she'll come talk to me. There's no point in having me look like an idiot talking to some chick that, in the back of my mind, I know I have no hope of being with."  
  
"Oh man," Kitsune thought. "this is perfect. I'm going to be set for life."  
  
Sean noticed Kitsune scoot a bit closer to him. "What are you doing?"  
  
"You really need to get some self-confidence. You never know, the right girl for you might be closer than you think."  
  
Sean rolled his eyes. "And why do you think you're the one for me?"  
  
"I'm not saying it's me." Internally, she hated the fact that she was found out so quickly. "It might be one of the others."  
  
"Like Naru? As if."  
  
The sound of the door opening made both of them turn around to see Shinobu enter. "Um, I brought you some food," she said nervously.  
  
"Thank you," Sean said. He watched her place the plate on the table, then back away, but stopped when she reached the door. It took a couple moments for him to realize she was waiting for him to try the food she had prepared. He went over to the table and took a bite. "Mmm, this is really good. Did you make this all by yourself?"  
  
Shinobu blushed heavily. "Yes, I did. I'm glad you like it, Mr. Roberts."  
  
Being referred to in such a formal way was more or less foreign to Sean, and it amused him so much, he decided to respond in kind. "You really should be more proud of your talents, Miss… Maehara." He paused to make sure he pronounced her name right.  
  
This caused the young girl's face to glow brighter. "You can call me Shinobu if you want to."  
  
"Only if you call me Sean in return." Shinobu quickly nodded, then ran out of the room. "Has she always been that shy?" he asked Kitsune.  
  
"As long as I've known her, but I think it's actually gotten worse since you showed up."  
  
"I see," Sean said, taking another bite. "I guess you should go before rumors start going around."  
  
"Good idea," Kitsune said. "Just so you know, my door is always open if you want to chat some more."  
  
"I'll keep that in mind," Sean said as Kitsune left, closing the door behind her. "Why do I get the feeling that talking isn't exactly what she has in mind?" he thought."What's with that look you gave her?"  
  
"What?" Sean quickly looked back to find Naru there; and she didn't look all that happy, either. "How did--?" he asked before he remembered the hole in the ceiling. "That must be you're room, then."  
  
"You haven't answered my question. I saw you looking at Shinobu, and I would like an explanation."  
  
"Was I making a look?" Sean asked in all honesty. Apparently, he had made some facial expression he was unaware of; it wouldn't be the first time.  
  
Naru took Sean's comment as sarcasm. "Don't play games with me. If I catch you making glances like that at her again, there will be hell to pay."  
  
"I still don't know what looks I'm making."  
  
"Well, you'd better figure it out," Naru said as she started to climb back up to her room.  
  
Sean turned his back to her. "Maybe I should be looking at you instead," he muttered. Suddenly, one of his books hit him in the back of the head.  
  
"I heard that!"  
  
---  
  
"I should have noticed Shinobu having a crush on me a lot sooner," Sean said as he removed the DVD from the laptop and replace it with another.  
  
--- Saturday, 6/23/2007 1:12 PM  
  
All the girls were in the living room watching television. If you were to observe each of them, you would notice a wide range of emotions, ranging from anger to boredom to concern, the owner of which speaking up after a while, breaking the relative silence. "I hope Sean's alright," Shinobu said. She couldn't help but feel somewhat responsible for what had happened almost an hour before.  
  
"Why are you so worried about him?" Naru asked. "Especially after what he could have done to you."  
  
"But we were just talking."  
  
"That may be the case," Motoko said. "But there's no telling what would have done if Naru and I hadn't intervened."  
  
"He still didn't do anything…" Shinobu said, barely audible. Ever since Sean's arrival, Naru and Motoko had warned Shinobu time and again that Sean might take advantage of her if given the chance. She never believed any of it, but her optimism never stopped the two aforementioned girls from beating the crap out of him at the slightest hint of perversion; and sometimes less. Out of the corner of her eye, Shinobu saw the front door open and upon seeing Sean step through, breathed a small sigh of relief.  
  
Sean had spent a good while (he had lost track of time after a while) trekking back home after his latest involuntary flight. All the while, various thoughts whirred through his head: Why had they done what they did? What did he do to provoke it? How long will it take to repair the ceiling and roof where his body crashed through it? His thoughts were interrupted after he returned and was greeted in the usual way by a certain hyperactive foreign girl.  
  
"Heyas!" Suu yelled as she sprang off the couch, ran over to Sean and kicked him square in the forehead, sending him skidding along the floor, coming to a rest upside-down against a wall. Slowly, he got up and, biting his tongue to keep his mouth shut, made his way across the room.  
  
"Are you alright?" Shinobu asked. Sean responded only by nodding.  
  
"Where are you headed off to?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Clean the floors," he said as he left the room.  
  
The girls looked at where Sean left with a bit of surprise. Now matter how badly he gets beaten, he always seems to bounce back and resume his duties as though nothing had happened. If it wasn't for the bruises his face would usually possess, nobody would even know he'd been hit.  
  
"You think he's immortal?" Kitsune couldn't help but ask. As if to answer her question, they heard a strange sound come from the other room. Shinobu volunteered to check and see what it was. Seconds after she left the room, a scream could be heard, compelling everyone to rush over to see what was the matter.  
  
"What happened?" Naru asked, seeing Shinobu at the base of the stairs, a terrified look on her face. Looking up, she saw what caused Shinobu's paralysis and couldn't help but gasp herself. Sprawled out halfway up the stairs was Sean's body, broom in hand, and completely motionless. Quick as a flash, Naru was at his side, making sure he was alive.  
  
"Is he…?" Shinobu asked, slowly walking up the steps.  
  
"He's just unconscious," Naru said. "Here, help me move him." With Shinobu's help, Naru carried Sean up to his room.  
  
"I guess he's not invincible after all," Kitsune muttered as she, along with Motoko and Suu, followed close behind.  
  
---  
  
"How did I end up picking this one?" Sean muttered to himself.  
  
---  
  
"How did this happen?" Shinobu asked after she and Naru placed him on his futon. "Why did he pass out?"  
  
"I can only think of one thing," Kitsune said. "Well, actually, two things."  
  
"What are you saying, that Motoko and I caused this?" Naru asked.  
  
"You have a better explanation?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"We won't know what happened until he wakes up," Motoko said. "We'll just have to wait until then." After twenty minutes of silence, Sean body finally began to stir.  
  
"Oh, what happened?" He said, raising a hand to his head.  
  
"You passed out on the stairs," Motoko said. "Care to explain why?"  
  
"Do I have to?"  
  
"I was so worried about you!" Shinobu said. "Why didn't you tell me something was wrong?!"  
  
"See how you're reacting?" Sean asked. "That's why." He started to get up, and seemed to strain in doing so.  
  
"Here, let me help you," Shinobu said. As soon as she placed a hand to his back, his body tensed up. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, it's--it's nothing," Sean struggled to say. He felt Shinobu start to lift his shirt. "Here we go," he thought.  
  
A gasp rang out as Shinobu saw a bunch of small cuts and bruises, but what caught her attention was probably the biggest cut any of the girls have ever seen. It went from his right shoulder down his back, almost to his left hip. Even though she knew the answer already, she was compelled to ask. "Who did this to you?!"  
  
"Take a guess." Expect for Sean's, every eye in the room turned to Motoko.  
  
"When did this happen?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yesterday. She… found me in the hot spring."  
  
"And why were you there in the first place?" Naru asked.  
  
"I was cleaning it! If Motoko had enough patience to wait two minutes, I would have been out of her hair and violence would have been avoided. Apparently, it wasn't good enough for her."  
  
"I'll go get the first aid kit," Shinobu said, getting up and rushing out of the room, pausing only to glance at the swordswoman.  
  
"I guess there's no point in hiding my pain any longer," Sean muttered as he laid back down, flinching in the process.  
  
"How much pain are you in, anyway?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"A pretty good amount." He looked at Naru, then Motoko, then his watch. A disbelieving expression appeared on his face, and he lifted the watch to his ear to make sure it was working (which was weird, since it was a digital watch). "This can't be right."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Naru asked.  
  
"You, me and Motoko have been in the same room for more than a few seconds without me getting beaten. I'm way overdue."  
  
"Overdue?"  
  
"Well, sure. I must have done something to make you two mad at me by now, right?"  
  
"I don't see how."  
  
"I'm talking to you, aren't I? Me opening my mouth seems to be enough reason by your standards. After all, you double-teamed me just for talking to Shinobu earlier today."  
  
"Well, we don't exactly know your intentions with her, do we?"  
  
"Intentions? My only intention is to make friends, which is more than I can say for you." Shinobu returned, first aid kit in hand, and instructed Sean to roll over onto his stomach so she could administer proper care. "At least I know somebody here cares," he thought. Since he had his face more or less buried in his pillow, he wasn't able to see the… well, let's put it this way: If looks could kill, his name would have hit the obituaries ten times over.  
  
About an hour later, Sean walked out of his room, flanked by Shinobu. She stayed by his side (despite Naru's and Motoko's protests) to make sure he was alright. He back still hurt, but his injury wasn't as bad as it looked. "Thanks again," Sean said. "I guess I should be more aware of my limits."  
  
"I glad I could help. Naru and Motoko can be so mean sometimes."  
  
"You're telling me. I swear, if they keep up that bitchy attitude of theirs, I don't see how they'd ever have many friends, much less be in a serious relationship."  
  
"What did you just say?" Both Sean and Shniobu looked back to find Naru.  
  
"What did you hear?" Sean asked before breaking out into a run, closely followed by the enraged redhead.  
  
---  
  
"Oh man," Sean said. "Open mouth, insert foot."  
  
"You got that right."  
  
"Kitsune??" He turned around to find the fox lady looking over his shoulder. "How long were you there?"  
  
"Long enough. I didn't know you made home movies."  
  
"Want to watch another one?"  
  
"Sure. I'll let you pick it out, just show one that's funny."  
  
"I think I know just the one." Sean walked over and went through the suddenly nonexistent vault door. "Let's see, which one was it?" He eventually picked one, put it into the laptop and pressed play. His eyes grew wide at what he saw.  
  
"Oh, Sean, just like that--" was all that could be heard of Motoko's voice before Sean stopped the movie, a deep blush on his face.  
  
"Oops, wrong one," he said, rushing back to the vault, but not before Kitsune saw that date that was marked and took note of it. "I really gotta label these things better," she could hear him say. "Ah, I think this is the one." He walked out, another disc in hand. "At least I hope so," he added as he inserted it into the computer.  
  
--- Thursday, 12/27/2007 10:21 AM  
  
"This such a beautiful sight," Naru said.  
  
"Yes, it is," Motoko added. The whole group, save one, walked along a forest path, covered in almost knee-deep snow.  
  
"I wish Sean could come out and see this," Shinobu said. "He would love it."  
  
"You know him," Kitsune said. "Always finding something to do around the house. It's his loss. We don't get snow for that long and he may not get another chance like this until next year." She noticed Motoko look back. "You see something?"  
  
Motoko shook her head. "I just thought I sensed something for a moment, that's all." She returned her gaze to the direction everyone was going, taking in the scenery.  
  
"Whew, that was a close one," a lone figure thought from his hiding place among the trees. "Motoko almost caught me. I've got to be more careful." When he was sure that nobody was looking in his direction, he peeked out from behind a tree at the group walking away from him. "Determine target." In his mind, a crosshairs appeared, moving from one person to another until a suitable mark was decided upon. "Target sighted. Plotting trajectory… hehehe…" Slowly, silently, he dug a hand into the snow. "Trajectory set. Initiate countdown… 10… 9… 8…"  
  
The group, completely oblivious of what was going on behind them, continued on their way. If they were to look back, they would have seen a snowball being tossed high into the air, reaching the apex slightly ahead of them.  
  
"Oh man," Kitsune muttered. "Can it get any colder out here?" As if on cue, a strong gust of wind hit them right in the face, but that wasn't the only thing that hit the fox. "AH!!" she screamed as the snowball landed right in her cleavage (how the hell did she manage to get cleavage from a winter coat, anyway?). "I had to open my big mouth, didn't I?"  
  
"Where did that come from?" Keitaro asked, looking up.  
  
"Yes!" A voice whispered from behind them.  
  
"Show yourself!" Motoko yelled, brandishing her sword.  
  
Sean stepped out from behind the tree, grinning like an idiot. "Hey y'all."  
  
"Sean!" Shinobu said, a similar smile appearing on her face. "You made it after all!"  
  
"Of course. I haven't seen snow like this in years."  
  
"Did you do this?!" Kitsune asked, pointing out the snow that was now melting and dripping down the inside of her coat.  
  
"Sure did," he responded, following it up with a giggle.  
  
"So it's a snowball fight you want, huh?" Kitsune said, scooping up some snow.  
  
"Was it that obvious?"  
  
"Well, you're going to get one!" Kitsune said, throwing her weapon of choice at him, but he dodged it easily.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that," Sean said. "Like this." He raised his arms and about a dozen snowballs appeared out of nowhere. With a motion of his hand, a couple of them were sent flying, hitting Kitsune's head and leg.  
  
"This doesn't look fair," Naru said, making a snowball of her own.  
  
"You're right," Keitaro said, joining her.  
  
In almost no time at all, the friendly snowball fight turned into an all-out war: all the Hinata-Sou tenants against Sean. The only one not involved was Motoko, who decided to just sit and watch from the sidelines. She found herself amazed that Sean was able to evade about 98% of the snowballs thrown at him, including those from the snow-bazooka that Suu wielded (where did she get that from?). "Wow," she thought. "If he could attack as well as he can dodge, he'd certainly be a formidable opponent even without his magic." Her thoughts, as well as the entire battle came to a screeching halt when an a stray snowball hit her in the face. The larger team started to back away from both Motoko and the one who threw it; Sean. "I wasn't going to get involved, but if it's going to be like that…" She gave an intimidating smile as she unsheathed her sword and started making her way to her adversary.  
  
"Uh oh," Sean thought. Quickly, he sent a multitude of frozen projectiles flying at her, but she dodged every last one with skill and grace.  
  
"Try and avoid this!" Motoko said as she swung her sword toward the ground. All of a sudden, a huge wave of snow appeared, heading straight for Sean.  
  
"WHOA!" That was all Sean could say before he was buried in about fifteen feet of snow.  
  
"I think I just won," Motoko said.  
  
---  
  
Kitsune laughed hysterically at what she saw. "It wasn't that funny," Sean said.  
  
"Well, it serves you right, hitting me in the chest with that snowball."  
  
"You mean like this?" Sean said, a snowball appearing in his hand, and sending it down Kitsune's shirt.  
  
"HEY! That's cold!" She saw him get up and run out of the room, laughing all the while. "Get back here!" she yelled, following him. Meanwhile, the movie continued to play.  
  
---  
  
Sean clawed his way out of his frozen tomb to find that his friends had already left. "Uh, hello? Where'd everybody go?"  
  
End Intermission   
  
What did you think? See you next time! Please R&R! 


	38. Ch36: A Heavenly Journey

DIsclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean and certain other characters are mine.  
  
Well, back to the semi-serious stuff.  
  
Chapter XXXVI: A Heavenly Journey   
  
Sunday, 3/16 6:12 AM  
  
Shinobu woke up bright and early so that she could start making breakfast. This was no different from any other day, so it hardly needs mentioning. As she got up and went to her closet to change into her day clothes, she began something that had become something of a morning ritual: thinking back on past events. The ones that stood out in her mind the most were those on Sean's birthday and Valentine's. The former was a cherished memory, as it was the first time the two have been in such intimate contact, but the latter was something she wished she could forget, just from the way her love was treated, or perhaps, mistreated.  
  
In the middle of changing, she found herself staring at her own naked body in the mirror. It was obvious that puberty was still in its early stages. (Turns out this self-examination had become part of her morning routine as well.) She couldn't help but wonder what she would really look like when she got older, but she knew the real answer would not be revealed to her until then. Only then would she find out if the form she had in Sean's fantasy was as accurate as she hoped it would be. With a sigh, she got dressed and prepared herself for another day of being surrounded by the shapely bodies of the other girls. (Well, Suu's probably the exception, but that's beside the point.)  
  
When she walked out of her room, she found Sean in the hall waiting for her. "Good morning," he said. "Sleep well?"  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said, a smile forming on her face. He seemed to have that effect on her.  
  
"That's good," Sean said as he wrapped an arm around Shinobu's shoulder and the two headed to the kitchen to make breakfast. It was times like this where Shinobu realized that out of the other girls, she should only be envious of Naru, since she had both the boyfriend and the mature body. "I wonder when she'll show up," Sean asked out of the blue.  
  
Shinobu quickly realized who he was referring to, but she could only shrug her shoulders.  
  
"I'm actually looking forward to seeing her again," Sean thought out loud.  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"Well, how often does a goddess visit a person's house?"  
  
"I see what you mean." Friday night, Shinobu's dreams contained a message from a certain deity. Luckily, she interpreted it better (or at least more accurately) than Sean did back in October. "You think we should have told the others about Linda's arrival?"  
  
"I doubt we'll have a choice. We'll probably get found out and have to tell them eventually."  
  
"Tell us what?" All of a sudden, the owner of the voice pounced on Sean from behind, sending him to the ground.  
  
"See what I mean?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said, barely able to stifle a laugh when she saw Suu smile innocently as she sat on Sean's back. Just part of another ordinary day in Hinata-Sou.  
  
--- 7:41 AM  
  
"So Linda's coming back, huh?" Keitaro asked as he bit into the breakfast Sean and Shinobu prepared for everyone.  
  
"Sure seems that way," Sean responded.  
  
"We should set up some sort of welcoming party or something," Kitsune said.  
  
"You just want a better reason to get wasted," Naru said.  
  
"She's got a point," Sean said. "Besides, Linda's not just stopping by to shoot the breeze. This is strictly business and I don't want anything to tie up her no doubt busy schedule."  
  
"Well, that's boring," Kitsune muttered.  
  
"Boring!" Suu yelled between heaping bites.  
  
"Sometimes, a break from the craziness that goes on around here is a good thing, ever think of that?" Sean said as he started walking out of the room.  
  
"Hey, where are you going?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'm going to go soak in the hot spring for a while."  
  
"You must have had all morning to do it," Motoko said. "Why now?"  
  
"Well, my daily chores take a bit a time. Oh yeah; also, I kinda lost track of time while skating up on the roof."  
  
"Hold on!" Naru said. "How did you--" she started to ask, but Sean was already gone.  
  
"Skating on the roof, huh?" Kitsune said. A few moments went by in silence with everyone looking at each other. "Let's go!" All at once, they ran off to the roof to investigate. When they got there, they saw nothing out of the ordinary.  
  
"Maybe he set everything back to normal after he was done," Shinobu thought out loud. When she stepped out onto the roof, she learned yet again that things are not always as they appear. "Whoa!" she said as her feet slid out from under her, but was caught by Naru. "Thanks," she said as she got back upright, blushing a bit.  
  
Motoko walked up beside her and inspected the floor. "Hmm, it feels like it was just waxed. No wonder it's so slippery."  
  
"WHEE!!" Suu squealed as she ran out and skidded across the roof.  
  
"Watch out, Suu!" Naru said as the younger girl neared the rail at breakneck speed. Much to everyone's surprise, instead of busting through it and landing three floors down, Suu merely bounced off, sliding in another direction.  
  
"Sean must have taken some precautions," Motoko thought as she, along with everyone else slowly edged onto the frictionless surface.  
  
--- (Meanwhile…)  
  
Sean turned into Alicia as she entered the changing room. After stripping out of her clothes, a thought struck her. "Hmm, I wonder…" she said to herself as she stepped in front of the mirror. Conjuring up an image of herself from back when she first started turning into a girl in October, her suspicions were confirmed. "Well, I never planned that, but I should have figured as much." Sure enough, Alicia had actually grown an inch in the last five and a half months, not to mention a slightly larger bustline. "I never thought this body would actually age, but it might be something to look forward to."  
  
Grabbing a towel, she stepped out into the hot springs and was greeted by the sound of laughing from above. "Sounds like they're having fun," he thought. It took a moment to realize there was somebody else out there already, lounging in the water, but she didn't recognize who it was. "Uh, hey there," she said with uncertainty.  
  
The mystery woman smiled at her. "Have you forgotten about me already?"  
  
As Alicia edged closer, all the pieces suddenly fell into place. "Oh, it's you, Linda." She couldn't help but notice the beautiful figure the goddess possessed. "Welcome back. You here for Shinobu's test?"  
  
"Yes, but I wanted to talk to you alone before I do that."  
  
That caught Alicia's interest. "What about?"  
  
"Well, first, I want to thank you."  
  
This came as a surprise to Alicia. "What for?"  
  
"You remember that skin-tight number I wore the last time I was here, right?" Alicia nodded. "Well, I hated wearing such a confining thing, and after I saw the outfit you wore in that dream I looked at, it inspired me to finally pursue a change in wardrobe."  
  
"Uh, your welcome, I guess," Alicia said, not fully knowing what to say.  
  
"Also, finding out what happened to your eyes got me thinking. How are you able to see, exactly?"  
  
"She must not have seen how I made PAVE," Alicia thought. "Here, I'll show you," Her eyes began to glow and a strange white mist (or whatever you want to call it) poured out of them, forming a ball of energy that floated in front of them.  
  
"So that's how you did it," Linda said, as if she knew exactly what the purpose of the ball was.  
  
"Yeah. At first, I thought I'd have to get used to a third-person perspective for the rest of my life until I figured out how to get it inside my head." With a motion of her hand the ball split up and two trails of energy reentered her head through the eye sockets. After blinking a couple times, she continued. "It's all worked pretty well except for that day you showed up for my test."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Why do you ask?"  
  
"Well, I know someone that should be able to help you regain your normal eyesight."  
  
"Is that right?" Alicia said. "I have given some thought to trying something like that myself, but it seemed too risky to me for some reason."  
  
"After I'm done testing Shinobu--which I probably shouldn't even bother doing, since I've been watching you and her for a while--I'll take you to see her."  
  
"Alright, I'll get Shinobu."  
  
"There's no hurry. You don't have to go anywhere just yet."  
  
"I wasn't going to." Alicia raised her arm in the direction of the roof and wiggled her fingers a bit.  
  
---  
  
Shinobu felt a twitch in the back of her mind, distracting her enough to almost run right into Suu as she whizzed by.  
  
"Are you alright?" Naru asked, noticing the young girl's thoughtful expression.   
  
"Yeah, there was just something I forgot to do," Shinobu said as she made her way to the steps.  
  
"Need any help?"  
  
"I'll be alright." Shinobu walked through the house, following the instructions sent to her through the mind: "Go to the hot spring; come alone." When she got there, she found Sean and Linda relaxing in the water, waiting for her.  
  
"Hello, Shinobu," Linda said. "It's been a while."  
  
"Uh, yeah, it has." Shinobu was blushing a bit at seeing Linda in her current state of undress. "If I may ask--"  
  
"I didn't want this to be too formal," Linda said, cutting Shinobu's question off at the pass. "Though I suppose this is as informal as it gets." Linda then vanished. Before anyone could say anything, she reappeared fully clothed near the door to the changing room, startling Shinobu. "Shall we get started?"  
  
All three of them reconvened inside the changing room (with Alicia also regaining her decency in the process) and the test went off without a hitch, with Shinobu passing with flying colors.  
  
"Well," Linda said when she was finished. "I guess I'll be on my way, then."  
  
"Maybe our paths will cross again someday," Alicia said.  
  
"Maybe," Linda said with a wink as she disappeared from sight.  
  
"What was that all about?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"What was what all about?" Alicia responded. Before Shinobu could question her further, the door flew open and everyone else rushed in.  
  
"Where is she?!" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Where is who?" Alicia asked.  
  
"Don't play dumb! We know Linda's in here!"  
  
"Actually, she just left," Shinobu said.  
  
"What?! Why didn't you tell us when she showed up?!"  
  
"They probably didn't want to make too big a deal out of it," Motoko reasoned.  
  
"How did you do on your test?" Naru asked.  
  
"I passed," Shinobu said.  
  
"Was there a doubt in anyone's mind?" Alicia asked.  
  
"Why couldn't she stay and hang out with us for a while?" Kitsune asked after she calmed down a bit.  
  
"Well, she is a busy woman, you know," Alicia said. "And on that subject, there's something I need to work on up in my room, so if you don't mind--"  
  
"Hold on," Kitsune asked as she grabbed Alicia by the arm, preventing a rather hasty exit. "What's your hurry? We all should go out into the hot spring and celebrate this occasion!"  
  
"Far be it for me to stop you, but as you know, I was just out there, so there wouldn't be much point in doing it again, would there?" She wrenched her arm out of Kitsune's grasp. "Sorry if I seem inconsiderate, but there really is something that demands my immediate attention. See you girls later."  
  
"Sheesh, what crawled up her butt?" Kitsune asked after Alicia left the room.  
  
"You know how he gets when he's working in his room," Naru said. "We'll check up on him later. For now, let's celebrate!" Everyone started to change until they realized that Keitaro was in there with them.  
  
"GET OUT!!" The group of girls screamed. Moments later, Keitaro flew out the door.  
  
---  
  
"I wonder how long this will take," Sean thought as he neared his room. "If they find out I'm gone, I'm going to get the third degree when I get back." After checking to make sure he wasn't followed, he entered his room to find Linda there waiting for him.  
  
"Ready to go?" she asked.  
  
"Let's do this."  
  
"I hope I don't regret doing this," Linda thought as she teleported both herself and her guest out of the room.  
  
The trip Sean experienced was quite an experience. They appeared to be in some sort of passageway. Everything was going by in a blur, so he figured they were moving at a pretty good clip. This wasn't entirely unfamiliar to Sean however, as he's seen something similar to it when using his own teleportation spells, but until now, it had always been no more than a split-second, as opposed to the minute or two this particular trip lasted. He figured where they were going must have been a great distance away.  
  
Linda was the first appear at their destination. She quickly scanned the room to find that it was empty. "Good," she thought with a sigh of relief. "Nobody's here." With a wave of her hand, Sean arrived right beside her.  
  
"Whoa," Sean said as he gazed at his surroundings. It appeared to be no more than on ordinary living room. "Where are we?"  
  
"Sean, welcome to my home."  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"Hush up," Linda quickly said. "I don't want any of the others to find out about this."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Well, we're really not supposed to bring anyone up here."  
  
"Would it help if I turned invisible?"  
  
"No, that won't work, trust me."  
  
"Have you tried doing this before?"  
  
"No, but Stephanie has."  
  
"Figures."  
  
"Let's go before we're found out." Linda led Sean down to a hallway that was lined on both sides by doors that looked too closely packed together to be of any use other than being closets.  
  
"What are those?" Sean whispered as he noticed the symbols on each door.  
  
"Each deity's personal quarters."  
  
"Aren't they a bit… small?"  
  
"You'd be surprised." She walked up to the third door on the left and knocked on the door.  
  
"Who is it?" A voice on the other side asked.  
  
"It's Linda. Are you busy?"  
  
"What do you think?" the emotionless voice said.  
  
"I was just wondering if you could do me a favor."  
  
"Come on in," the voice said after a moment. Sean could tell it was slightly agitated.  
  
"Are you sure we should--" Sean started to whisper.  
  
"Don't worry, it's alright," Linda said. She motioned for him to stay put, opened the door, and stepped inside.  
  
"What kind of favor do you want?" The voice asked.  
  
"Well, Amy, it's like this…"  
  
Upon hearing that name, the open book insignia on the door suddenly made sense. He glanced across the hall and saw a heart on another one of the doors. "Stephanie's room, no doubt," he thought. His curiosity taking over, he looked for the symbol on every door he could see while still staying out of sight of those inside Amy's room, partially in search for Linda's room, partially to see which aspects of life were represented. Meanwhile, the voices inside continued.  
  
"Why do you want to help this man?" Amy asked after Linda concluded her explanation.  
  
"Well, I've kinda taken a liking to this guy and, considering what he's been through, I think he deserves it."  
  
"Alright, I'll do it. Take me to him."  
  
"Well, actually…"  
  
"Oh, please don't tell me you brought him here with you." Linda bit her lip and glanced out the door. "Oh great. Well, let's get this over with before one of the others finds out."  
  
Linda nodded, then stepped out the door, where she noticed Sean looking around the hall. Apparently, he hadn't been listening at all. "Psst, hey." Sean quickly turned his head in her direction. "Get in here," she whispered. He quickly obeyed, and Linda closed the door behind him.  
  
"Wow," Sean said as he looked around Amy's rather spacious room. "These rooms really are bigger on the inside." Shelves of books lined the walls that seemed to go on almost forever. About twenty feet ahead of him, a woman was seated at a table, looking at him in surprise. "Dang," he thought. "She looks just like Naru."  
  
Meanwhile, Amy was in shock. "Sean? You brought Sean?!" She got up to get a closer look; to make sure her eyes weren't playing tricks on her.  
  
"You've heard of me?"  
  
"Well, sure. When someone performs their own sex change in the pursuit of knowledge, it doesn't go unnoticed up here."  
  
"I suppose not."  
  
"Let's get those eyes fixed," Amy said. She raised her hand and an operating table rose out of the floor and motioned for Sean to lie down on it.  
  
"Um, not that I don't trust you or anything…" Sean said as he was being strapped down to the table. "…but how do I know you know what you're doing?"  
  
"For your information, I know exactly what I'm doing. I have more information stored in my head than the Library of Congress! Besides, I have some… personal experience with optical surgery."  
  
"In other words," Linda said. "She screwed her eyes up so badly reading all those books, she's had to fix them a few times over the last thousand years."  
  
"Are you sure she's not Naru?" Sean asked.  
  
"Very funny," Amy said. "Let's get started, shall we? First, remove that light ball from your sockets." Sean did so, making PAVE appear, floating a couple feet above his head. "Good. Now, Linda, apply the anesthesia."  
  
Linda nodded, then waved her hand over Sean's face. This would be the last thing he would see before losing consciousness.  
  
--- 9:07 AM  
  
Fresh from the celebration held in the hot spring, Shinobu went to Sean's room to see what he was up to. She knocked on the door, but there was no response. "That's weird," she said to herself. "Usually, he at least says something. Maybe he didn't hear me." She knocked a bit harder, but got the same result. Worry starting to set in, she decided to risk being scolded and entered the room. Finding the door locked, she felt she had no other alternative than to teleport in, and when she did, she found it to be completely devoid of life. She searched high and low for him, but to no avail. "GUYS!!" she screamed as she ran out of the room. "SEAN'S MISSING!!"  
  
--- 12:40 PM  
  
"You feeling okay?" Linda asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm alright," Sean said as he sat up minutes after waking up.  
  
"Here, catch," Amy said, tossing something at Sean. When he caught it, he quickly realized what it was: PAVE; and he was looking at it instead of it being his vantage point.  
  
"Sweet," Sean said, swatting the ball, causing it to shatter, then fade into nothingness. "I guess I won't be needing that anymore. Thanks a bunch."  
  
"No problem," Amy said. "It's good to help out someone Linda holds in such high regard."  
  
"She does?"  
  
"Are you kidding? It seems all she ever talks about is you and Shinobu; and she's not the only one."  
  
Suddenly, Amy's door opened. "Hey, Amy, could I borrow--" She stopped her sentence short when she saw who was in there.  
  
"Uh oh," Ami, Linda and Sean all thought.  
  
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Stephanie said as she made her way towards them in a seductive manner (which was a given, considering her personality, not to mention the fact that she wasn't wearing anything). "If I had known you were coming, I would have prepared something. Oh well, I can improvise."  
  
"Uh," Sean muttered as he started backing away. "I don't like the way you're looking at me right now."  
  
Stephanie continued her approach. "Hey, Linda," she said with a snicker that was borderline sinister. "Thanks for bringing him to me. After I'm done with him, I should think of some why to repay you."  
  
"And what do you plan to do to me?"  
  
"Can't you tell?"  
  
"Unfortunately, yes." Sean suddenly found himself cornered, and the naked goddess creeping ever closer until she was upon him.  
  
"I could make you the happiest man alive right now," she whispered into his ear as she pinned him to the wall.  
  
"I really don't need your help for that."  
  
"But I'm sure you wouldn't mind if I did, right?"  
  
"Well, actually--"  
  
"And I'll have you know I'm not one to take no for an answer."  
  
"Maybe now's a good time to start," Sean said.  
  
"What are you… talking… about…?" Stephanie's body fell limp, three tranquilizer darts stuck in her back.  
  
"Thanks again," Sean said after he laid the sleeping goddess flat on her back after removing the darts.  
  
"No problem," Linda said, smiling. There was a blowgun in her hand. "That's how she gets when it comes to guys."  
  
"Is she going to be alright?"  
  
"Sure, but by the time she wakes up, you'll be long gone."  
  
"Good. Let's go now just to make sure of that."  
  
---  
  
"Are you sure we should be in Sean's room?" Shinobu asked. "Why aren't we out searching for him?"  
  
"Well," Kitsune said. "He said he was coming here before, and since he pretty much lied to us, he'll show up here before he goes anywhere else to cover his tracks."  
  
As if on cue, Sean appeared right in front of them, and he quickly realized he'd been caught. "Uh oh."  
  
"And where were you?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Um… well…" Sean then dashed for the door.  
  
"Oh no you're not!" Kitsune said, giving chase. "You won't get away from me!"  
  
"At least I know he's alright," Shinobu thought. "That's all that matters."  
  
---  
  
It took a few hours for Stephanie to wake up from the tranquilizers. "Urgh, I don't believe this," she muttered. "It seems every time I get close to piercing through that thick shell, something happens. Well, that's going to change if it's the last thing I do!"  
  
"If you're do dead set on doing that, why don't you just go after him yourself?" Amy asked as she watched Stephanie head for the door.  
  
"That would be too obvious. There has to be something that can work against that guy." Suddenly, inspiration struck. "Yes, that's it! I know what I have to do!" She walked out of the room, laughing evilly.  
  
"Sean, Sean, Sean," Amy muttered to herself, shaking her head. "You just had to get her full attention, didn't you? She'll never stop testing your fidelity now. I hope your will is as strong as she keeps saying it is; you're going to need it."  
  
End of Chapter XXXVI   
  
What's Stephanie going to do? Will it work? These questions will be answered next time. See you then! Please R&R! 


	39. Ch37: Persistence Doesn't Pay

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Well, I've kept you in suspense long enough.  
  
Chapter XXXVII: Persistence Doesn't Pay   
  
Thursday, 4/3 7:22 PM  
  
A beautiful sunset. A romantic sight for friends, lovers, and spouses alike. A symbol of what has already happened and of what the future might bring. All in all, it means the approaching end of another day for those at Hinata-Sou and elsewhere. The only noise that could be heard was that of the chirping birds, but even they were starting to fade away into the encroaching night. Anyone would say that it was a very tranquil evening.  
  
Hey, hold on just a sec! This just doesn't look right! When it is ever peaceful at Hinata House this time of night?! Anyone familiar with the goings on of that place knows well enough that it's hardly ever calm when at least most of the girls are present and accounted for. Considering that it's dinner time, this is definitely the case, so the fact that everything is so quiet is--  
  
"AH!!!" Ah, that's the stuff. No doubt that scream (if not that, then some other loud noise) is just what you were waiting for. Let's investigate the source, shall we?  
  
The front door opened and Sean ran out. Moments later, four girls came out, chasing him. Now, I know what you're thinking: What would make him try to escape their clutches this time? To answer that, we'll have start from the beginning…  
  
--- Monday, 3/17 11:18 AM  
  
"HELL NO!" That was Sean's immediate response to an idea brought to his attention by the resident fox. "There's no way I'll agree to that!"  
  
"Why not?" Kitsune asked, not surprised at Sean's quick rejection.  
  
"Well, maybe it was because both of us had a bad experience with it. Have you forgotten about that?"  
  
Okay, you're still wondering what the hell is going on, so a full explanation is in order. The previous evening, (after an unsuccessful attempt to pry any info out of Sean as to where he went off to) Kitsune was walking home from work (she was turning in an article for the paper) when she happened to pass by an adult store (Remember, the one Sean went into back on Christmas to get Shinobu and everyone else off his trail?). She didn't even know why she took that route home; she never did in the past.  
  
Glancing inside, she noticed the various lotions and such designed to enhance sexual pleasure. "Oh please," she thought. "That potion Sean made works a lot better than that stuff ever will." That sparked an idea in her head; manufacture more of the Instant Arousal and sell it. Of course, she knew right away that Sean would refuse it outright, and to honest, she was no different, but she figured that if handled correctly, it could be a very profitable venture for both parties. This was something she just couldn't pass up--past disasters be damned.  
  
"No, I haven't," Kitsune said.  
  
"Then why would even think of such a thing?!"  
  
"Don't you think we could make a good bit of cash making that stuff?"  
  
"Is that all you ever think about?"  
  
"Not exactly," Kitsune said with a grin. "There's always messing with people's heads." Sean rolled his eyes. He had always been her favorite target, and he knew it. "Anyway, the way I see it, as long as Suu and Mutsumi don't get a hold of it, we should be fine."  
  
"It's not just them! If anyone should have too much of it, we can only imagine what could happen to some poor, unsuspecting soul!"  
  
"Well, if we clearly mark a dosage, that would lessen the risk, wouldn't it?"  
  
"Maybe." That got the wheels turning in Sean's head. "And if we point out what could happen is too much is taken, we would be free of all legal responsibility."  
  
"See, that's the kind of thinking I'd expect from a businessman like you. Even if I had the ability to make that potion, I'd never be able to run a business on my own. Too much responsibility, you know?"  
  
"Well, knowing what you do with the money you already have, I'm not surprised."  
  
"Does that mean you're in?"  
  
Seeing that there was probably no way to convince her otherwise, Sean felt he had no other alternative. "I guess, but if we're going to do this, we have to do it right." Kitsune nodded. "Okay, first, we can't tell anyone about this yet. The less people that know about what we're doing, the better."  
  
"Got it."  
  
"Next, we'll have to determine just how long the effect lasts, and I assume you know the only way to do that."  
  
"Oh yeah," Kitsune said, a smile forming on her face.  
  
"No, we won't be doing that," Sean said. "No matter how badly we may want to, we have to make an accurate assessment."  
  
"You mean you'll be drinking it too?"  
  
"Well, it won't be just for the ladies, right?"  
  
"Good point. When will be starting the testing?"  
  
"Tomorrow. It'll take some time to get more of the stuff made, and by then, the others should start getting back. In the meantime, I'll try to think of as many details as I can."  
  
"You need any help with anything?"  
  
"Nah, I'll be alright."  
  
"Where are you going to keep the bottles so nobody finds out?"  
  
"I'll keep them in my video vault. I'll need to go in there anyway."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Well, since the first time, I forgot what the ingredients were, exactly."  
  
"I see. See you later, then." Kitsune left Sean's room to leave him to his work. "I never thought he would actually agree to it," she thought. "Actually, how did I think of it in the first place? Even I wouldn't be crazy enough to come up with something like that after what he did to me with that stuff." As she went into her room, she kept racking her brain, trying to remember how the idea came to her, to no avail.  
  
---  
  
"Hehehe. Everything is falling into place. This'll show him what happens when somebody defies me."  
  
---  
  
Over the following days, as soon as everyone went off to their respective educational institutions and Sean and Kitsune were the only people left in the house, they sampled various doses of the lust formula (one per day, of course). The early start was because they weren't sure just how long the effect lasted when the desire wasn't satisfied, and they didn't want to risk being in that condition when the others got back. Their aroused state certainly made for some… interesting moments, but they managed to keep their hands off each other. Well, actually, that's not entirely true. On more than one occasion, Kitsune became a bit restless, and even forceful at times, which forced Sean to restrain the sex-starved girl before anything happened. On their--ahem--downtime, they would collaborate on other topics concerning their project such as, price, possible advertising, and comparing side effects. Meanwhile, for their unknown observer, irritation was beginning to set in.  
  
---  
  
"I don't believe this," Stephanie said as she watched the lack of events happening. "Nothing. NOTHING!!! I plant the idea in Kitsune's head, they drink that potion every morning, and nothing happens! This guy is really getting on my nerves right now. I'm going to have to kick it up a notch. I refuse to be defeated by some mere mortal! Let's see how you deal with this!"  
  
--- Thursday, 4/3 2:12 PM  
  
"So, you want to go do something?" Keitaro asked as he and Naru walked home after another day at Tokyo U.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I'm just saying that we don't have to go home right away."  
  
"What did you have in mind?"  
  
"Well, I was thinking we could see a movie or something. Maybe we could just make a day out of it."  
  
"Won't the others worry about us after a while? You know what they might think we'd be doing together, especially Kitsune."  
  
"Yeah, so?"  
  
"I think we should at least drop off our books and tell Sean and Kitsune where we'll be headed."  
  
"Maybe." Before they could think of anything else, they happened upon the two people Naru was just talking about. "Hey, Sean. Hey, Kitsune. What's up?"  
  
"Oh, hey," Sean said. Both he and Kitsune were surprised to come across the Tokyo U students. "We're doing pretty good. And you?"  
  
"Well," Naru said. "turns out neither of us have any schoolwork due for a while."  
  
"That's nice."  
  
"Yeah, the two of us were just planning on making a day out of this," Keitaro said. "Could you go take our books home for us?"  
  
"I don't think we--" Kitsune start to say before she was interrupted.  
  
"I'd be glad to. Hand them over." Moments after receiving them, he made them vanish before their very eyes.  
  
"Where'd they go?" Naru asked.  
  
"Back home. You'll find them in your rooms when you eventually get back. Have fun."  
  
"See ya," Keitaro said.  
  
"Hold on just a sec," Naru said. "Why are you two out here together like this?"  
  
"We both decided we needed to get out of the house," Sean said. "…or at least get me out of the house."  
  
"You've got a point there," Keitaro said.  
  
A grin appeared on Naru's face. "It looks like you two are out on a date or something, doesn't it?"  
  
"Maybe we are," Kitsune said, hooking an arm around Sean's.  
  
Sean merely rolled his eyes. "Yeah, right. Shouldn't we get going, Kitsune? I think these two would like some privacy."  
  
"That's alright," Keitaro said. "I don't think we would mind your company for a while, right, Naru?"  
  
"Uh, thanks anyway," Sean said. "but we should make sure we get back before any of the others do. We wouldn't want them to worry, right? Besides, somebody's got to let them know about you two." Sean and Kitsune walked past Keitaro and Naru. "See you when we see you!"  
  
"See ya," Naru said as she and her boyfriend continued on their way.  
  
"So, you want to get a quick bite to eat before we see the movie?" Keitaro asked. (Please, bear with me; I know what I'm doing. Besides, doesn't the suspense just make you want to keep on reading? Plus, I haven't involved those two in much recently, so it'll be a good change of pace.)  
  
"Nah, we'll get something when we get there." The two went towards the theater, but someone was on an intercept course.  
  
"Well, hello there," a man said from behind them. They turned around and Keitaro was going to return the greeting, but stopped when he noticed that the man wasn't looking at him. "And who might you be?" The man asked. It was obvious that he never suffered from lack of ego a day in his life.  
  
"And why might I tell a slime ball like you?" Naru asked.  
  
"Oh, come now," the over-confident man said. "Nobody can resist the charms of Kentaro Sakata."  
  
"You gotta be kidding me," Naru thought. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm out with my boyfriend."  
  
"What, this guy?" Kentaro pointed to Keitaro. "Why's a radiant angel like you out with this loser?" Keitaro glared at him, but it went unnoticed.  
  
"I don't have to explain myself to you." Naru grabbed Keitaro by the arm. "C'mon, let's go."  
  
Not one to take rejection gracefully (mostly because it hardly ever happens), Kentaro followed them into the theater and continued to pester them. Well, mostly, he was bugging Naru, saying how he was better looking, had more money, better stuff, and every other way he could think of that he was better than her current boyfriend in the hopes that she would make a swap in his favor. Despite his efforts, all he got was the cold shoulder, and this got him a bit frustrated. This would continue until ten minutes into the movie, when he got kicked out by an usher, much to the relief of the couple, as they were now able to spend some quality time alone that didn't involve schoolwork.  
  
This peace would not last indefinitely, as Kentaro was waiting for them outside and he pretty much picked up where he left off. After a few irritating minutes, Naru and Keitaro exchanged glances, Keitaro nodded his head, and a smile appeared on Naru's face. She quickly turned to face the annoyance and, without warning, sent him flying in her usual way. "Well, that solves that problem," she said. "So, where do you want to go now?" (I just want to point out something. I've never seen the anime, so I don't really know who the guy acts. I pretty much made him out to be some arrogant, womanizing blowhard that doesn't know when to quit. If that's a accurate assessment, all the better.)  
  
--- 7:17 PM (The time draws near…)  
  
Like any other evening, everyone gathered for dinner (though Keitaro and Naru were still absent). Shinobu served dinner, while Kitsune volunteered to get everyone their drinks, including Sean. This day had been strangely calm up to this point at Hinata-Sou, which didn't go unnoticed by anybody, but nobody wanted to jinx it by bringing it up. "I wonder where Naru and Keitaro are right now," Shinobu thought out loud.  
  
"Couldn't tell you," Sean said. Out of everyone in the room, only himself and Kitsune knew they had even left the house. After meeting Naru and Keitaro, they went to their original destination: the adult store both of them were somewhat familiar with. After trying the sample Kitsune brought with her in her purse, the manager of the store quickly offered to buy all the bottles of the potion they had. Since they only brought the one, they arranged to bring more the next day.  
  
"Maybe they're having some romantic dinner together."  
  
"Whatever it is they're doing, I'm sure they'll be back before too long. Let's eat, shall we?" Sean was about to take a drink when Kitsune spoke up.  
  
"Before we do, I want to propose a toast."  
  
"To what?" Motoko asked.  
  
"To Sean: the man, the landlord, the friend."  
  
"To Sean!" Everyone cheered, then drank.  
  
Right away, Sean knew something was amiss. "What the hell?" he thought. "This tastes just… like… uh oh." He looked around and found surprised looks on everyone's face except Kitsune's, which possessed a sly grin and was gazing in Sean's general direction. Actually, everyone was looking at him, at he didn't like the way they were doing it. He had the sinking feeling that his drink wasn't the only one that was tainted. He was feeling the effects of the potion, and he assumed the others were as well. This got him worried as to what they might do. Slowly, he got up and started backing away. "Uh, I think I'll just--"  
  
"You're not going anywhere," Suu said as she tackled Sean, sending both of them to the ground. Suddenly, the others were upon him.  
  
"AH!!!" (Sound familiar?) Sean knew he had to somehow get away before he was gang-raped by the four horny teenage girls. It took a couple minutes, but he was finally able to squirm out from under them, mostly because they had begun arguing amongst themselves as to who would have him first. Unfortunately for him, he wouldn't escape unseen.  
  
"Hey!" Kitsune said, getting everyone's attention back on their target, who had broken out into a run. "Get back here!"  
  
Sean ran out the front door with the others close behind. When he reached the steps, in a spur of the moment decision, he made a leap of faith into the wild blue. He quickly realized the error of his ways; that his effort to put some extra distance between him and his pursuers would lead to his… downfall. Thinking quickly, he spread his arms out wide and muttered a few words. Instantly, his descent leveled out a bit and he literally flew down the steps headfirst, never more than two feet off the ground. For a moment, he thought he was home free, but what he saw ahead of him would change his mind.  
  
At the base of the steps, the girls were waiting to capture him as soon as he came within reach. This came as a shock to Sean until he remembered Shinobu had the capacity for such things. This would certainly make his escape that much more difficult, especially since he was on a crash course, but that gave him a idea.  
  
"What is he doing?" Kitsune thought when she saw Sean actually pick up speed. "Is he going to…" "Duck!" she shouted. "He's going to ram us!" Everyone did as she instructed. Everyone that is, except for one. "Shinobu, what are you doing?!"  
  
"He'd never hurt me," she simply said. "He'll stop."  
  
"I hope your right."  
  
"Oh crap," Sean thought. He was sure this aggressive maneuver would clear a path for him, but there was still one obstacle left to deal with; one he wished he didn't have to. "I guess if I can't go around her," his thoughts continued. "I'll just have to through her instead."  
  
When she saw that Sean wasn't going to slow down, much less stop, Shinobu started to get scared. Despite this, she found herself rooted in that one spot. She shut her eyes tight and spread her arms out wide. She was determined to keep her beloved from getting past her, no matter the cost, but her thoughts betrayed her fears. "He wouldn't hurt me… He wouldn't hurt me…"  
  
The others looked on in shock as Sean sped downward closer and closer to Shinobu. It looked like his intentions were to plow through anything in his way, living or otherwise. Everything was happening way too fast for any of them to interfere, so they were forced to just sit and watch Sean do what none of them thought he was capable of. Fortunately, there would be no injuries resulting from this, as Sean pass through Shinobu's body, leaving both of them unharmed, but it was when they saw Sean gracefully land and continue his attempt to put distance between himself and the sexed-up foursome that they remembered their objective and continued their pursuit.  
  
Sean took a winding path through town in the hopes of losing the girls long enough for the potion to wear off or something, but he soon found it impossible. After a while, he started to wonder if one of them placed a tracking device on him, but considering that Motoko was part of the group that was after his hide, that might as well have been the case. "I can't keep running forever," he thought. "I have to find some way to get back home without them knowing." As he turned yet another corner, he saw Naru and Keitaro a ways ahead of him. "Perfect."  
  
The two were just heading back after having dinner when they saw Sean running in their direction. "Hey, Sean!" Naru said. "What's wrong?" she asked upon seeing his panicked expression.  
  
"Sorrycan'ttalknowDistractthempleaseThankyouSeeyouathome!" Sean blurted out as he ran by them and rounded another corner.  
  
"What was that all about?" Keitaro asked. "Distract who?"  
  
"I saw him come this way!" Suu yelled as the other girls arrived in the same direction Sean did.  
  
"We have to keep at it!" Kitsune said. "He'll tire out eventually!"  
  
"Hey," Naru said. "What are you chasing Sean for?"  
  
"Just tell us where he went. We need to find him."  
  
"Well, he did pass by, but…" Keitaro was deliberately stalling for time.  
  
"But what?"  
  
"I can't seem to recall where he went."  
  
"You're no help." Kitsune then turned to the other three girls. "Alright, he couldn't have gone far, so split up and search every street you can!"  
  
---  
  
"NO!" Stephanie yelled as she hurled a chair at the television. "Even when it's four on one, he still escapes! How in the hell am I going to get this guy?!" Now, you must keep in mind, she has spent most of her time over the last couple weeks trapping Sean, which didn't leave much time for herself. As a result, her hormones have gotten quite backed up, and she couldn't ignore them any longer. Something had to done, and it had to be done now.  
  
---  
  
"Well," Sean sighed as he tried to catch his breath. "I think I've had enough running for one day… week… month…" That brief pause in the chase gave Sean enough time to teleport back to his room. Taking a seat at the table, he hoped it would take quite a while for the others to find out about this. "Oh man, what else can happen tonight?" He just had to say that, didn't he?  
  
"Hello there, Sean," A voice said from behind him.  
  
Sean quickly recognized the voice, and he wished he hadn't. "Oh no, not her. Anybody but her."  
  
"What's wrong," Stephanie half-pouted. "Aren't you happy to see me?"  
  
"Look, I've had a rough evening, and I don't need your help right now." Sean felt the goddess press herself against his back. "Get off."  
  
"Oh, come now. I could take care of that stress easily."  
  
"I'll have to take your word for it on that one."  
  
"Damnit," Stephanie said, moving so they were face to face. "I tried to be nice about it, but you leave me no choice! Fuck me, I command you!"  
  
"Hell no!"  
  
"Ha! Found you!"  
  
"Oh shit," Sean thought as Shinobu, Kitsune, Motoko and Suu appeared in his room. "That didn't take long."  
  
"What are you doing to my boyfriend?!" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'm after the same thing you are," the horny goddess replied.  
  
Sean used this opportunity to get to his feet. "Isn't there some other way to deal with this?"  
  
"I think you know there isn't."  
  
Seeing the girls stalk relentlessly towards him, he unwittingly backed himself into a corner. In a last ditch effort to escape yet again, he tried to teleport out, but found his abilities on the blink. "Stephanie must be able to block my magic," he thought.  
  
"At long last," Stephanie thought. "His defenses are useless. Prepare for a night you'll never forget." When she got within three feet of him, a cage made entirely out of energy appeared around her halting her progress. "NO! Not again!"  
  
"Stephanie!" a new, angry voice said from out of nowhere.  
  
"Oh no," Stephanie muttered, a look of worry on her face. Suddenly, another woman appeared in the room.  
  
"You just had to do this, didn't you?" the brunette asked.  
  
"And who might you be?" Sean asked.  
  
"I'm Julie, the goddess of justice, and I've come to take this slut home."  
  
"No, you can't do this to me!" Stephanie whined.  
  
"I've given you more leeway than anyone else because of who you are, but molesting mortals is where I draw the line."  
  
"What are you going to do to her?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"To put it simply, she's grounded. No more trips down here for as long as I see fit."  
  
"Thank you," Sean said with a sigh of relief.  
  
"I apologize for what she's put you through. You won't have to put up with her for a while." Julie was just about to leave, when an idea popped up in Sean's mind.  
  
"Hold on just a sec," Sean said, an evil smile on her face. "I think I know another way to punish her…"  
  
After Julie left, with Stephanie in tow, Sean locked the other girls up in their rooms (with extra effort made to keep Shinobu from escaping). Knowing that he was finally safe, he knew he had to make sure others wouldn't suffer like he has, so he called the adult store and cancelled the potion delivery.  
  
"Sean?" Naru asked as Sean hung up the phone.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Could you please explain what's been doing on?"  
  
---  
  
"Julie, please stop this!!" Stephanie wailed. She was strapped down to her bed, with her punisher standing over her.  
  
"No, you must learn that mortal men are not your playthings. Besides, this punishment is fitting for you. Call it karma."  
  
"But do I have to drink every last one?!" Stephanie asked, glancing at the table that had over two dozen bottles of lust potion on it.  
  
"Yes, and if I have to force it down your throat, I will. This was such a great idea Sean had." She grabbed a bottle and held it close to Stephanie's face. "Do something like that again, and I'll call him and tell him to make more of this. Now drink." Stephanie's screams could be heard all around the house as she was tortured in a way she wouldn't wish on anybody.  
  
---  
  
"I still don't get it," Kentaro said to himself as he recovered from Naru's punch in his room (which, as luck would have it, is where he happened to land) "Why would a beauty like her be with such a nerd? It just doesn't add up. She's too good for him, and I won't rest until she realizes how much better I am than him."  
  
---  
  
Somewhere in Africa, a girl in her mid teens looks over a sheet of paper, a look of confusion on her face. "How is this possible?" she asked herself. "This calls for an investigation…"  
  
End of Chapter 37   
  
That just opened up a few new avenues, didn't it? I'm sure the first thing you're all wondering is: "who is this new girl?" You'll find out soon enough. See you next time! Please R&R! 


	40. Ch38: Inquisition

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Well, here we go again. Time to find out who that mystery girl is.  
  
(DJ LIM and those with similar interests, better start making preparations. I'll wait...)  
  
Chapter XXXVIII: Inquisition   
  
Sunday, 4/6 5:21 AM  
  
Sean walked up the steps to the roof after completing he his daily chores. He knew that Motoko would be up there doing her morning exercises, no doubt also waiting for him to arrive so they could begin their weekly training session in her room. "Well, here we go again," he thought unenthusiastically. As much as he liked helping the samurai develop her abilities, he had begun to resent the whole experience in recent weeks. It makes sense, as getting your butt handed to you week in week out isn't exactly something a person would enjoy unless you happen to be a Saiyan and can actually benefit from it.  
  
He reached the top of the stairs to find Motoko going through one of her sword routines with practiced ease. Her movements possessed the skill and the grace of a professional dancer, and the deadly efficiency of a cobra. He knew first hand the consequences of getting on her bad side, and it was something he preferred to never do again, but as long as he continued being her sparring partner, pain would always be in his future. He watched Motoko's performance in silence, not wanting to interrupt her and quite possibly becoming the recipient of an errant strike.  
  
Despite his silence and the fact that Motoko had her back to him the entire time, she knew that he was watching her. She had become very attuned to Sean's aura and could sense it from a mile away. She focused more on his frequency, and noticed that it seemed ill at ease. She was curious as to what was troubling him. As far as she knew, he hardly ever discussed such things with anyone, but she always had the nagging feeling that there was something she could do to help, if only he'd give her the chance. She finished her kata and turned to face her audience. "How was it?" she asked.  
  
"Flawless as always," Sean said.  
  
"And what, exactly, are you referring to with that statement?"  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"I suppose not." Motoko knew it would be a compliment no matter how it was interpreted, but anyone who knew her knew that praises directed at her body have been reason enough for a brutal assault in the past. Fortunately for Sean, she has gotten used to such flattery, at least from him, and doesn't mind it as much as she used to.  
  
"Shall we?" Sean asked, motioning toward the stairs.  
  
"Let's," Motoko said, and they made their trek back to Motoko's room. On the way, she saw Sean looking at the floor a short ways in front of him. She has noticed that this was an unexplained habit of his and that, in his early days as landlord, this would cause great misfortune for him when certain body parts happened to enter his field of vision. She also knew that when he was like this, he was either deep in thought or not thinking at all, and considering what she sensed earlier, she assumed it was the former. "Sean, what's troubling you?"  
  
"Hmm?" Sean turned his gaze to Motoko's face. "Oh, right, the whole sensing thing. I was just thinking about what's happened recently. The last couple weeks have been quite… stressful, you know?"  
  
Motoko nodded knowingly. He had told everyone about Kitsune and him attempting to market the lust potion and what that entailed. This brought to light how Sean became the object of desire for most of the girls, herself included. Nobody knew that Stephanie was responsible for the entire thing (including what happened back on Valentine's), not even Sean. For all they knew, she just really, really wanted to join in.  
  
Sean and Motoko walked into the swordswoman's room and entered their digital domain like they have so many times before. "This time has to be different," Sean thought as he grabbed his weapon. "It just has to be. I have to figure out some way that I might actually defeat her instead of the other way around." Suddenly, an idea popped in his head; one that could possibly kill two birds with one stone. "I think I figured out a way to add another element to your training," he said.  
  
"How's that?" Motoko asked, genuinely intrigued. She watched as Sean turned into Alicia, which only egged on her curiosity "What are you doing?"  
  
"Call it an experiment," Alicia said. "Let's see how well will you fight when faced with distraction."  
  
"What kind of distraction?"  
  
"This kind." Alicia set her sword down and then proceeded to strip.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Obviously, Motoko did not expect something like this to happen. I can't imagine why.  
  
"Don't you agree that this would be distracting?" Alicia asked as she tossed her clothes to the side--all her clothes.  
  
"Well, sure, but--" Motoko suddenly realized her opponent's intentions. A warrior should be able to fight, no matter the circumstances; even if their adversary just happens to be a beautiful, naked woman. "I understand."  
  
"Let's go," Alicia said, getting into her fighting stance. Motoko nodded, then charged, beginning their latest sparring match.  
  
Now, if there had been an audience present, it wouldn't have taken them long to notice that, for a change, it was a pretty even match. Not surprisingly, Motoko found it somewhat difficult to keep her focus while her opponent left nothing to the imagination. Probably what distracted her the most was noticing the… freedom of movement Alicia's breasts possessed at that particular place and time. Despite all this, she was still able to maintain a slight advantage.  
  
"Alright," Alicia thought. "That knocked her down a peg or two, but there must be something else I can do…" As she hacked and slashed at Motoko, her mind was racing, trying to think of some way to gain the upper hand. As luck would have it, an opportunity would make itself known--and from a very unexpected source.  
  
The two combatants clashed swords and tried to push the other back. Motoko couldn't help but look at Alicia's heaving chest as she drew in a few deep breaths. It looked like she was giving it her all and that it was beginning to take its toll. "All I have to do is keep this up for a little while longer," Motoko thought. "I don't wish to--" Her thoughts were halted when she became aware of something. "Where is that smell coming from?" she asked herself. Suddenly, it dawned on her. "Could it be that she's…"  
  
This little diversion would prove to be Motoko's undoing. With a surge of new energy, Alicia broke away, got behind Motoko and hit the back of her knees with the reverse side of her sword. After Motoko was forced down onto her knees by the impact, Alicia kicked her in the back as hard as she could, sending her sprawled out on her stomach. Quickly, she went to her side and flipped her over. "Are you alright?"  
  
"Yeah, I'm--" Motoko started to say before she realized what was going on. Alicia had her sword arm pinned to the ground and a sword held against her throat. There was nothing she could do. "I'm defeated."  
  
"You mean…?" Alicia asked, still breathing a hit heavily.  
  
"Yes, you have beaten me."  
  
A smile appeared on Alicia's face. "Yes," she whispered. "I did it. After all this time, I finally did it."  
  
Motoko was confused by what she said. Still, there was something else she needed to find out first. "Sean?"  
  
"Yeah?" she responded, tossing her sword to the side.  
  
"I was just wondering; just now, were you…" For some reason, she couldn't bring herself to finish her sentence.  
  
"Yes, I was," Alicia said, climbing on top of Motoko. "And I still am. I think it's time I accepted the prize for my victory." She bent over and gave Motoko a passionate kiss.  
  
Motoko suddenly realized what was happening. Alicia's experiences over the last couple weeks and then some have finally caught up with her, causing her to be horny as hell. This got her wondering if this was her plan from the get go. To be honest, Motoko was affected by recent events as well. Granted, she wasn't as far gone as Alicia at this point, but right now, even if she had the ability to do so, she wasn't about to back away now.  
  
Alicia felt Motoko wrap her arms around her and return the kiss. It felt good to finally to go about doing these pleasurable activities on his own terms, as opposed to it being forced on her. It felt really good.  
  
They remained there in an embrace, motionless, for about a minute or two before Alicia had to come up for air. She started tugging hungrily at Motoko's gi, demanding entrance. Motoko was all too eager to oblige, but she also wasn't one to be submissive for too long.  
  
Motoko flipped Alicia over, switching places with her so that she was on top. She began loosening the ties that held her gi closed, with Alicia looking on, seemingly tortured by how slowly she was undressing. This only made her want Motoko more than she already did. "C'mon, Motoko," her thoughts whined. "Don't drag this out forever!" After what felt like an eternity, Motoko finally removed her gi, tossed it aside and was about to remove her chest wrappings when Alicia held up a hand, stopping her. "Allow me," she said. She twirled a finger and the bindings came undone in an instant, falling neatly beside them. "God, you're beautiful."  
  
"Would you like to see more?" Motoko asked. Seeing Alicia quickly nod, she stood up and took off the only remaining piece of clothing she had left: her panties. Now completely naked, she set herself back down on top of Alicia and resumed kissing. This time around, it was supplemented by both of them exploring each other's bodies, hitting every sensitive spot they could find.  
  
"Oh, Motoko," Alicia moaned as Motoko started moving her mouth farther down her body. "It's been so long, I've almost forgotten what this feels like."  
  
This reminded Motoko that there indeed was something she could do to help her landlord, and this was it. Granted, this wouldn't be the solution to every problem, but it was a good way to relieve stress, and Motoko would be glad to do this for him until the time came for Shinobu to take her place. "I hope she realizes just how lucky she really is," she thought.  
  
Alicia wasn't able to see what Motoko was doing to her because the brunette's hair had become a curtain of sorts, preventing the blonde from watching, but she didn't care. She could feel what has going on, and was enjoying every moment of it, wishing it could last forever.  
  
Just as soon as she thought things couldn't get any better, there was an abrupt end. She hadn't reached her peak or anything, Motoko just stopped what she was doing to her breasts. "What the hell is she doing?!" her thoughts screamed. "Why am I being tormented like this?!" She felt Motoko's silky hair blaze a trail across her chest, which made things almost unbearable for her. She wished Motoko hadn't stopped, but what she would do next made it all worthwhile.  
  
Without warning, a new, more intense wave of pleasure rushed through her and she realized that Motoko didn't stop, just redirect her efforts from her chest to her crotch. Alicia moaned uncontrollably as Motoko sent her farther and farther down the path to ecstasy.  
  
---  
  
A girl in her mid teens walked up the steps to Hinata-Sou, a suitcase in each hand. The early morning sun radiated off her pale skin and reflected somewhat off her jet black hair, done in a simple ponytail that reached a little ways past her shoulders. "It's been such a long time since I've been here," she muttered to herself. "Since I've seen… him…" She recalled memories of a boy from her past; all the good times they had together back when they were kids. She quickly shook the happy thoughts from her mind; she hasn't seen that boy in years, and she didn't know if she would ever see him again. This being the case, she didn't wish to dwell on memories such as those for longer than she had to. This mindset proceeded to give her an emotionless demeanor as the years went by, and it has earned her very few friends, which was fine by her.  
  
She reached the top of the steps and looked at the imposing structure that was the Hinata-Sou girls dormitory. "This place hasn't changed one bit," she said, scanning the building in front of her. Her attention was sent elsewhere by the sound of her cat meowing from its perch on her shoulder. "Yes, Kuro," she said, scratching the cat behind the ears, causing it to purr. "It is a beautiful sight." She resumed walking toward the front door. "Soon, I'll find out everything I need to know." She knocked on the door a few times, but got no response. She figured that, since it was so early on a weekend, everyone was still asleep.  
  
She opened the front door (mildly surprised that it was unlocked), entered the empty living room, quickly set her bags down and sat down on the couch. It was a long trip from the airport, and carrying those heavy bags the whole way took a lot out of her. This would be a perfect time to rest up before confronting her target.  
  
--- 6:11 AM  
  
Motoko's door opened and she and Sean walked out, acting as though nothing had happened between the two. In actuality, they spent half an hour together in that artificial world--and the last five recovering from it. "If you disliked our sparring matches so much," Motoko said. "why do you continue to participate in them?"  
  
"I don't know," Sean said with a sigh. "I guess I must feel obligated to help or something. At first, I looked forward to them, but after so many loses--and painful ones at that--I started to lose my positive outlook towards them."  
  
"And so you figured out a way to win."  
  
"I only came up with that idea right then and there. If only I hadn't thought of something so…"  
  
"Don't worry about it," Motoko said, smiling. "What's done is done, and besides, I doubt you could have come up with anything that worked as well as that. You had me almost completely off balance by what you did and when I smelled your--"  
  
"That," Sean interrupted, "wasn't part of the original plan."  
  
"Then what was?"  
  
"I didn't have it all worked out."  
  
"So you were improvising, huh?"  
  
"Basically. I just wanted to beat you at least once without going so far as magically enhancing my abilities. That idea felt like it had some promise, so I went with it and hoped for the best."  
  
"And what would you have done if you lost again?"  
  
"To be honest, I probably would have tried the same stunt as when I won, just in a different way. You didn't think winning was the only thing I was trying to accomplish, did you?"  
  
"On that note, there's something I want to tell you. If our battles will end up like that one did…" A wide smile appeared on Motoko's face. "then I wouldn't mind losing to you more often."  
  
A matching smile emerged on Sean's face. "Somehow, I'm not surprised." Sean couldn't be more relieved by that last little exchange of words; and why not? He had just rediscovered an outlet for his hormones after almost three months of going without. "Come on, let's go see if Shinobu's started breakfast yet."  
  
---  
  
The new girl heard part of the conversation from her seat on the couch. She couldn't understand what was said, but she quickly recognized one of the voices as a male one. "Why is a male here?" she thought. "Could it be that…" Her heart skipped a beat at the possibility running through her mind. "Is it possible…?" Her heart and mind were each going a mile a minute. She was grateful for two things right then: one, that she was the only person in the room at that moment to see her like she was, and two, that she waited in the living room for someone to arrive for so long.  
  
When Sean and Motoko entered the room, the hopeful gleam in the girl's eyes vanished in an instant. "I should have known better," she thought, quickly regaining her composure. "Though there is some resemblance…"  
  
"Hello there," Sean said upon seeing their surprise guest.  
  
"Uh, hey," the girl said with uncertainty. She regarded the man with deep suspicion. "Why would a man be at a girls' dorm?" she thought. "Besides the obvious, of course…"  
  
"Is there anything I can help you with?" Sean asked.  
  
"You can help me by directing me to the landlord of this place."  
  
"You're looking at him."  
  
"So this is the one Haruka found?!" the girl thought. "He certainly has some explaining to do."  
  
"What business do you have with me? Are you looking for a room?"  
  
"Not exactly. Have a seat. We have a lot to talk about."  
  
"Do you know her?" Motoko whispered as the two made their way to the couch.  
  
"I haven't seen her before in my life," Sean whispered back. When they sat down, the girl started her interrogation.  
  
"Alright, how long have you been here…" she motioned for him to answer an additional, implied question.  
  
"Sean, and I've been here since last June."  
  
"And do all of the girls tolerate you being here?" Her question was partially directed towards Motoko.  
  
"It took a little while to get used to," Motoko said. "but we have fully accepted his presence here."  
  
"So he doesn't try anything?"  
  
"He is a gentleman," Motoko said; a smile starting to form. "…most of the time."  
  
"So he is perverted."  
  
"Isn't everyone?" Sean asked.  
  
"Excuse me?" the girl asked raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Well, haven't you ever fantasized about a guy before?"  
  
A slight blush appeared on the girl's face, but it quickly subsided. "What qualifications do you have for being here?" she asked, quickly changing the subject.  
  
"An accounting degree from a college in the states."  
  
"So you should be reliable in regards to managing finances, correct?"  
  
"I should hope so."  
  
The girl reached into one of her bags and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Take a look at this," she said, handing it to him.  
  
Sean scanned the document for a moment. "How did you get this expense report? I sent these only to the owner of this place."  
  
"That is of no concern to you right now. Look at that report closely."  
  
Sean did, noticing that it was the one he had sent about a week before. "Uh, what am I supposed to see?"  
  
"THAT!" the girl yelled, pointing to a line on the report that said "Maintenance and Repair Costs" and the amount listed: ¥0. "Care to explain that?"  
  
This made Sean nervous. He had no intention of telling this stranger about his abilities. Luckily, a distraction would arrive with impeccable timing.  
  
"Hello," Shinobu said as she entered the room.  
  
"Hey Shinobu," Sean greeted back. "Could you set an extra place at the table for our guest here?" The young girl nodded, then rushed off to the kitchen to start making breakfast.  
  
"And who was that?" the newcomer asked, noting Shinobu's apparent age. "Shinobu was it?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"And why is a girl that young staying here?"  
  
"As far as I know, her parents aren't getting along right now and she doesn't want to take sides."  
  
"I see. Mind if I take a look around?"  
  
"No problem. In fact, I'll give you a tour myself. Motoko, could you go help Shinobu in the kitchen?"  
  
"Sure thing." All three of them got up off the couch; Motoko went to the kitchen and the other two went upstairs, at the girl's request.  
  
As they went down the hallway, Sean couldn't help but notice that the girl was looking around, trying to take in every last detail. "What are her intentions?" he thought.  
  
"This place looks so well kept," the girl thought as she looked around, either unaware of Sean's stares or ignoring them. "How is he able to keep this place up and running without spending any money towards repairs? It just doesn't make sense."  
  
The tour went off with hardly a word and the time eventually came for breakfast. All the girls were curious as to who their visitor was and where she came from.  
  
"All I know is that she's interested in our finances," Sean said.  
  
"As soon as I find out all I need to know, I'll be out of your hair and you probably won't see me ever again," the girl said.  
  
"Well, she's all business, isn't she?" Kitsune said.  
  
"Sorry I'm late," Keitaro said as he entered the dining room. "Hmm? Who do we have here?"  
  
When the girl turned to face him, her heart started racing. "No," she thought. "It can't be." Tears started to pour from her eyes. "But it is; it's him. He's finally come back into my life; after all these years…"  
  
"Um," Sean said. "Is something wrong?"  
  
The look of shock never left the girl's face and her voice came out in a whisper. "Oniichan…"  
  
End of Chapter XXXVIII   
  
Gee, I wonder who this could be? And for those of you who thought it would be Nyamo, answer me this: Why would Nyamo be in Africa? Wasn't she a Pararakelse native? (Looking at LH Volume 8) Wow, I can't believe I got the spelling of the island right on the first try. Well, anyway, see you next time! Please R&R! 


	41. Ch39: Relatively Speaking

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Ah, the cliffhanger. It just gets you coming back for more, doesn't it?  
  
Chapter XXXIX: Relatively Speaking   
  
"Oniichan…" the girl whispered. The silence that followed was deafening and the air surrounding everyone was so thick with tension, Motoko's sword could have been called into service. Before anyone could do anything else, she got up and approached Keitaro, a deep blush on her face. "I can't believe you're actually here," she said. "It's been so long, I'd almost completely given up hope of ever seeing you again."  
  
"Um," Keitaro said. "This is going to sound awful, but I don't know who you are."  
  
A sorrowful expression appeared on her face. "Keitaro, it's me, Kanako."  
  
"Kanako…?" Suddenly, his eyes grew wide as realization set in. "Oh my God! Kanako, is it really you?!"  
  
A smile formed on Kanako's face. "So you do remember."  
  
"Um, exCUSE me," Naru said. Her eye was starting to twitch. "How do you two know each other? Is this some ex-girlfriend you haven't told me about?"  
  
"What--No!" Keitaro said, as though Naru was crazy to assume such a thing. "Everyone this is Kanako, my little sister."  
  
"You never told us you had a sister," Sean said.  
  
"Well, we haven't seen each other in years. It must have slipped my mind."  
  
"I think that's quite obvious, considering how long it took for you to recognize me," Kanako said.  
  
"What have you been up to lately?" Keitaro asked. "I'm sure we have a lot of catching up to do."  
  
"You have no idea," Kanako thought. "Well, lately, I've been accompanying grandmother on her worldwide travels."  
  
"Well, that certainly explains a few things," Sean said.  
  
"Care to elaborate?" Naru asked.  
  
"I've been sending Grandma Hina expense reports every three months. No wonder she had one of them."  
  
"Yes," Kanako said, getting back to business. "And that's reason I'm here. He hasn't spent any money towards repairs or maintenance for the last six months, yet this place is in tip top shape. I'd like to know why."  
  
"All will be explained in due time. I'm sure you're not in any big hurry, right?"  
  
"I suppose not." At first, Kanako intended to find out what she needed to and be on her way, but being reunited with her beloved brother was reason enough for her to stay a while longer.  
  
"Good. You must be tired after your trip here. After breakfast, one of the girls can take you to the hot spring so you can rest up for a while. Whenever you're ready, you can meet me up in my room and we'll talk business. Now, the only thing left to figure out is, where are you going to stay? There's still that one empty room on the 3rd--"  
  
"If you don't mind, I would like to stay in oniichan's room," Kanako said, looking at Keitaro.  
  
"You what?" Naru asked, the twitch in her eye starting up again. "You can't be serious, can you?"  
  
"I'm completely serious."  
  
Sean saw Naru ball her fists in preparation to send somebody into the next town. Not wanting to find out who, he decided to intervene. "Naru, wait," he said. "I'm sure she has a good reason for this." "I hope she does," he thought.  
  
"How would you feel after seeing someone you cared for after spending years apart?" Kanako asked. "Wouldn't you want to spend as much time with him as humanly possible?"  
  
Naru's expression softened somewhat. "Well, I suppose."  
  
"Maybe you and him can share the same room for now," Sean said. "These rooms are big enough to accommodate two people and I'll take measures to make sure each of you gets your fair share of privacy. We all know that Keitaro's not perverted, just accident-prone. And even if he was perverted, he wouldn't stoop so low as to come on to his own sister. Besides, it's not like they'll be sharing the same bed or anything, right, Kanako?" The way he said those last two words let Kanako know there was no room for negotiation.  
  
"Of course not," Kanako said.  
  
The air around the dining room table calmed somewhat as Keitaro led Kanako to her seat. The only exception to this was Naru, who was quite uncomfortable seeing her boyfriend holding hands with another girl, even if it was his sister. The introductions went off mostly without a hitch. (It was obvious Naru had no intentions of being friendly at this point.) After everyone became acquainted, normal conversation ensued.  
  
"Hey Sean," Kitsune said. "Did you and Motoko have another one of your training sessions this morning?" This caught both Sean and Motoko by surprise, as they didn't think their match would be the topic of discussion. Taking the initiative, Sean decided to go with the flow, but be careful not to reveal everything that happened.  
  
"Has it become that predictable?" Sean asked, smiling. This got Kanako wondering why she wasn't able to hear any fighting while she was waiting in the living room.  
  
"Well, how did it go?"  
  
"It was… unique."  
  
"Don't keep us in suspense. What was so different about this one?"  
  
"Does me winning count?"  
  
A gasp rang out from around the table. "You actually beat Motoko?" Naru asked. Kanako figured such disbelief meant that Motoko must have greater skills than Sean, to say the least. "How did you do that?"  
  
"Now now, I don't think it would be appropriate to reveal any of Motoko's possible weaknesses, would it?"  
  
"It's not fair that you know and we don't!" Suu said.  
  
"Well, I was specifically trying to find weaknesses, so she could work on eliminating them."  
  
"Makes sense," Kanako said. It was at this point that she noticed that not only has Sean eaten a thing as of yet, there wasn't even a plate in front of him. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"  
  
"Nah," Sean said, getting up. "I'm not that hungry right now. Maybe I'll have something later. See you later, Kanako."  
  
"Hmm," Kanako thought. "There is definitely more to this place than meets the eye." She glanced at where Sean left the room. "Especially him. I'd like to find out about him as soon as possible… but he's right. Carrying those suitcases all this way made my muscles sore and a hot bath would do me a world of good…" she made a glance at Keitaro. "Especially if a certain someone should happen to join me."  
  
When breakfast came to a close, Kanako considered asking Keitaro to take her to the hot spring, but after noticing Naru's reaction to seeing the siblings in such close contact (not to mention them sleeping in the same room), she decided it would be safer for both of them if she asked someone else. Shinobu volunteered to do it after she was finished with the dishes.  
  
As Shinobu led Kanako to the changing room, she noticed an odd look on the older girl's face. "Is something the matter?"  
  
"It's just that too much has happened too quickly. What started as a trip to clarify on Hinata-Sou's financial picture turned into me being reunited with my brother. You can't imagine the emotions running through me right now."  
  
"How long has it been? Since you last saw Keitaro?"  
  
"Too long. If you don't mind, I would rather not go into the details."  
  
"Of course." They finally reached the changing room. "Well, here we are. Don't stay in the hot spring too long before going to meet Sean, 'kay?"  
  
"Why? Is Sean impatient?"  
  
"No, but if you wait too long, he'll start to wonder if you're alright."  
  
"I see." Kanako opened the door and was about to enter was she saw that Shinobu wasn't going to follow. "Aren't you going to join me?"  
  
"I figured you'd want your privacy so you can gather your thoughts."  
  
"I've been alone with my thoughts for long enough. Besides, I have some questions that you can answer for me." Shinobu nodded and followed Kanako. Both girls changed into towels and went out into the hot spring. "Do you feel left out?" she asked as she lowered herself into the water.  
  
"What do you mean?" Shinobu asked, a bit surprised at the sudden question.  
  
"You're the youngest girl here, right? There must be some things going on here that you can't take part in because you're too young."  
  
"Yeah, but I know that I won't be young forever, and I know it will be well worth the wait."  
  
That got Kanako wondering just what goes on at Hinata-Sou, but first things first. "I can't help but notice that oniichan lives with you five beautiful girls," Kanako said after taking a seat. "I can't help but ask; what is his relationship with you girls?"  
  
"He loves us all, but he holds Naru close to his heart."  
  
"And does she feel the same way about him?"  
  
"Well, they have been going out for a while now."  
  
"That explains the way she was acting towards me," Kanako thought. "I have a feeling she's not going to like me very much." "What about Sean?"  
  
"He loves us and we all love him, but he also has that certain someone."  
  
"And who's that?"  
  
"Me."  
  
"You're kidding, right?"  
  
"Believe it if you want, but it's the truth."  
  
"No wonder you don't feel like you're missing out; you've already got someone."  
  
"We don't do any of those… adult things together. He knows I'm too young right now, so he's willing to wait until I'm ready."  
  
"That must put quite a strain on him."  
  
"It could, but he can always turn to one of the other girls to help with that."  
  
"And you don't mind?"  
  
"Of course not. With all the temptation he faces around here, I'd be asking too much for him not to. In fact, on two separate occasions, Kitsune and Motoko were so sexually frustrated they were at wit's end and he took care of them. Since then, they've been having encounters every now and then to keep their hormones in check. I only wonder what those other girls will do once I get old enough and take their place."  
  
"Does oniichan have to deal with that sort of thing?"  
  
"You know, it's never come up."  
  
Kanako nodded thoughtfully. "After I take care of business here, I might stay a while just to hear about everything that's happened here."  
  
"You'll be here for a long time, then," Shinobu said, laughing a bit.  
  
"I intend to," Kanako thought.  
  
--- 8:52 AM  
  
Sean heard a knock at his door from his seat at the table. "Come on in." The door opened and Kanako walked in. "Ah, you're here. How was the hot spring?"  
  
"Very relaxing," Kanako said.  
  
"You're telling me. I've actually fallen asleep out there a couple times."  
  
"It was also very informative. Shinobu joined me out there and answered a few questions I had."  
  
"Though I'm sure you still have more, or else you wouldn't be here."  
  
"That's right." Kanako sat down across from Sean. "I'd still like to know how you're able to keep this place together without spending any money for repairs."  
  
"Simple enough question, complicated answer." Sean took a deep breath. "Well, here goes nothing," he thought. "For the last year, I've been training myself in the use of… magic spells."  
  
"Oh, you're a wizard," Kanako said calmly.  
  
Sean was a bit taken aback by Kanako's reaction. "Uh, yeah, you can say that."  
  
"I've met a couple of them during my travels with grandma."  
  
"I see. Then you can understand why I was so hesitant to say anything about it."  
  
"Yes. Do any of the other girls know about this?"  
  
"Of course. I've actually taught them the basics of spellcasting. It didn't take as long as I thought it would. After that, Shinobu was the only one who expressed much interest in it."  
  
"Is that because she's your girlfriend?"  
  
"She must have mentioned that in the hot spring," Sean thought. "Actually, it's why we became a couple in the first place."  
  
"What?" Kanako wondered what kind of spell was responsible, but before she could ask, Sean's door was slammed open and Naru rushed in.  
  
"Sean!" she yelled. "Come quick! Suu's playing with her tanks again!"  
  
"I'm on my way!" Sean said getting up and heading for the door. At the doorway, he stopped and turned to face Kanako. "I guess you'll be seeing me in action sooner than I thought." He then ran down the hallway, with Kanako following shortly afterward.  
  
"Suu has tanks?!" Kanako thought as she and Sean went upstairs to find Suu piloting a squad of her toy tanks. "You gotta be kidding! How can--"  
  
"Looks can be deceiving," Sean said.  
  
"Ah, target sighted," Suu said, grinning. "Time for us to play, Sean!"  
  
"Kanako, for your own good, stay back." Sean smiled as he turned back to the hyperactive girl. "Alright, let's play." Kanako noticed Sean position his arms like he was in some Old West shootout.  
  
"Fire!" Suu yelled. About a dozen pinky-sized missiles were deployed. Sean made two clawing motions in front of him and every last projectile detonated before they got to him.  
  
Kanako gasped at the size of the explosions. "How can--"  
  
"Don't ask!" Sean yelled back as smoke filled the hallway, causing them both to start coughing.  
  
Suu laughed from the other side of the smoke. "Let's see how you handle the next wave when you can't see them!"  
  
"Oh, crap," Sean thought as he heard another batch of missiles being launched. Thinking quickly, he set up a force field spanning the entire hallway, intending to stop whatever might try to make contact. When the first couple missiles hit the barrier, he was surprised by how powerful the blast was, and he found himself having difficulty maintaining it. "C'mon," he muttered. "Stay whole for me; stay whole…" Suddenly, one of the detonations ripped a hole in the shield and another rocket passed through. Unable to stop it without lowering the shield entirely, he could only watch and growl a bit as it passed by him unhindered.  
  
Kanako stood paralyzed as the missile headed straight for her. "No," she thought. "It can't end this way. I'm finally reunited with my oniichan and I'm going to be blown up by some foreign girl with a endless sugar rush!" At the last second, she felt someone force her to the ground, the missile passing within four inches of her head and went on to blow a big hole in the far wall.  
  
Sean was unaware of the save, as he was forced to refocus his attention on making sure his force field didn't get reduced to Swiss cheese. After the last missile was taken care of and the smoke cleared, revealing a smiling Suu with a depleted arsenal, he lowered his defenses. "What is it about you and random acts of destruction?" he asked. Suu just shrugged, gathered her army, and bounded off to her room. "Maybe I should make another game disk so she can cause as much carnage as she wants without hurting any of us."  
  
Kanako had her eyes closed as she laid on the floor, still scared of what might have happened. "Are you alright?" a familiar voice said. Hearing this voice made her face light up.  
  
"O-Oniichan?!" she said, looking at him lovingly. "Did you just save me?!"  
  
"I'm not about to let my sister be hurt now, am I?" he said, helping her to her feet.  
  
Kanako found herself unable to force the color from her cheeks. "He still cares for me," she thought. "After all this time, he still loves me."  
  
"C'mon," Keitaro said. "Let's go get you unpacked." Without another word, the two siblings went to get Kanako's bags, leaving Sean to fix the walls--again.  
  
After Keitaro and Kanako unpacked (and Sean set up a curtain to separate each siblings' half of the room), the day pretty much went the usual route, but Naru quickly noticed that Kanako never left her brother's side for a minute, and it was starting to make her feel a bit uneasy about the whole thing. Eventually, she decided that she couldn't just sit back and watch it happen anymore; something had to be done.  
  
--- 8:41 PM  
  
"Sean?" Naru asked from outside his door. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"  
  
"Sure, come on in." Naru walked in and sat beside Sean, who was playing video games. "What's on your mind?"  
  
"It's about Kanako," Naru said. "I'm worried that she might be getting a bit too close to Keitaro."  
  
"Well, they are related," Sean said. "and ones that haven't seen each other in years. I'm sure she just missed him and wants to spend time with him."  
  
"Maybe, but wanting to sleep the same room as him? That just doesn't sit right with me."  
  
"At least they're not sharing the same bed," Sean muttered.  
  
"Please don't put images in my head."  
  
"Sorry. I can see that your troubled by this, and I think I know what we can do to put your mind at ease."  
  
"And what do you have in mind?" Naru asked suspiciously as Sean turned off the game.  
  
"Talk to someone who knows more about Kanako than any of us." Sean noticed the look she was giving him. "What did you think I was going to say?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Naru said, her expression quickly softening. "But don't you think talking to Keitaro is a bit risky? I mean with Kanako being right next to him and all--"  
  
"Keitaro was not what I had in mind." Sean stood up and helped Naru do the same. "Come with me." Sean led Naru out of his room, and it wasn't until they walked outside that she realized where they were going.  
  
"That's right," she thought. "Haruka's related to Kanako; and since Kanako and Keitaro haven't seen each other in so long, Haruka should have more information to give than him."  
  
The two entered the tea shop to find it empty with the exception of Haruka, who was cleaning tables. It looked like she was going to close the shop any time now. "Hey Haruka," Sean said.  
  
"Hey there," Haruka said. "What brings you here?"  
  
"We're here to ask you a few questions."  
  
"Have a seat," Haruka said, gesturing to a table (Which Sean noticed as one she hasn't cleaned yet.). "Would you like something?"  
  
"I'm good. Naru?"  
  
"We just had dinner."  
  
"Alright," Haruka said, sitting down across from the other two. "So, what do you want to know?"  
  
Sean turned to Naru, "Do you want to ask or should I?"  
  
"You go ahead."  
  
"Alright. What do you know about… Kanako?"  
  
A look of slight surprise appeared on Haruka's usual poker face, her cigarette barely able to stay in her mouth. "And how do you know Kanako?"  
  
"She arrived this morning."  
  
A cigarette fell onto the table. "Please tell me you're kidding around."  
  
Sean shook his head. "I'm afraid not."  
  
"I'm glad you came to talk to me about this instead of Keitaro."  
  
"Well, that would be pretty hard to do, considering Kanako's never more than two feet away from him at all times," Naru said.  
  
Harukia sighed. "I should have figured as much."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"Ever since they were kids, they were always close. Nobody could tear them apart for long. Years ago, they parted ways; and she didn't take it very well. Ever since that day, she's been waiting for him to return to her. After a while, she sank down into a deep depression from which I thought she would never escape."  
  
"She was kind of like that before she saw Keitaro," Sean noted. "All work and no play, you know?"  
  
"Exactly. In that span, she started to see Keitaro less as a brother and more as the one that got away."  
  
"That sure doesn't sound like the way a sister should act," Naru said.  
  
"Maybe that's because they're not related by blood."  
  
"You mean she's--"  
  
"That's right; she's adopted. She loves Keitaro dearly, and their time apart only made that feeling grow and mutate."  
  
"Huh boy," Sean muttered. "Somehow, I think this is going to get worse before it gets better."  
  
"Why do you say that?" Naru asked.  
  
"Well, this morning, Keitaro saved her from being hit by one of Suu's missiles."  
  
"And why didn't you do it yourself?"  
  
"I had my hands full dealing with the other two dozen plus missiles coming at me."  
  
"Keitaro's actions might have finally pushed Kanako over the edge," Haruka said. "I seriously doubt she'll let him escape her grasp again without a fight."  
  
"Lovely," Naru said sarcastically.  
  
"I suggest that, at all costs, try not to leave those two alone in the same room together. There's no telling what she might do."  
  
"Well, that might be a bit of a problem," Sean said, holding the back of his head. "You see, she kinda talked us into letting her stay in Keitaro's room."  
  
"She what?!" Haruka suddenly stood up. "We have to stop her before she--"  
  
"Wait!" Sean said. "If we act too soon, she may realize that we know her intentions and Keitaro would be skeptical of what we're trying to accomplish. I say we let her make the first move, both to serve as proof of what Haruka said and to justify our actions."  
  
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Naru asked.  
  
"We have to know exactly what you're up against. Don't worry, you'll have my support and that of the other girls."  
  
"Thank you," Naru said, giving Sean quick hug. "Let's get back before the others start wondering where we went."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
Haruka watched the two get up and walk out the door. "Oh man," she muttered. "This is not going to be pretty." She sighed, then resumed cleaning the tables. "And the waiting game begins." Suddenly, she remembered that a letter had come in the mail for Naru the previous day. "Oh well, I'll get it to her later. Damn, she's been getting a lot of letters from that guy lately."  
  
--- 11:52 PM  
  
Keitaro changed into his pajamas and got ready for bed. Kanako was in the room as well, but the curtain splitting the room in two protected their privacy. "See you in the morning, Kanako," he said, making sure to keep his voice down so he didn't disturb Naru, who was already asleep.  
  
"Um," Kanako said, poking her head through the curtain. "Can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Could you give me your opinion on something?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"Wonderful. Could you come over here for a sec?"  
  
"Maybe she decorated her side of the room," Keitaro thought as he approached the barrier and pushed it aside to reveal a startling sight.  
  
"I ask you," Kanako said, sporting some revealing, sky blue lingerie. "How do I look?"  
  
For a moment, Keitaro just stood there, dumbfounded at what he saw, but that moment quickly passed. Suddenly, blood sprayed out his nose.  
  
"Is that a yes?" Kanako asked, slowly approaching him.  
  
"Um, I, er…" was all Keitaro could say before fainting.  
  
"Get used to this, oniichan," Kanako whispered as she half-carried, half-dragged Keitaro onto his futon. "You will be seeing more of me in the days to come." She kissed the unconscious man right on the mouth, then turned to walk back to her half of the room. "I let you go once before, but I won't let it happen again. Mark my words: You will be mine, and there's nothing anybody--especially that Naru girl--can do to stop me." Poor, unsuspecting, unassuming Keitaro. He has no idea what he's in for.  
  
End of Chapter XXXIX   
  
Oh, man; Naru's certainly got a lot on her hands, doesn't she? I wonder how it will all turn out. See you next time! Please R&R! 


	42. Ch40: Love on Trial

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Here we are, the big 4-0!  
  
Chapter XL: Love on Trial   
  
Over the next few days, Kanako would pull more stunts to try to get Keitaro's attention and affection. For her part, she never went too far in her attempts, and only tried when she knew nobody else was around--or at least within earshot. Keitaro on the other hand, could only guess as to why his own sister was doing such perverse things to him. He never said anything to anyone about what she did; he felt the humiliation would be too much to bear, not to mention the fact that Naru and Motoko would attack either him, Kanako, or both, and he could not have that. Despite this, both of them knew it was just a matter of time before somebody found out…  
  
---  
  
Naru and Keitaro walked down a street, hand in hand. They glanced at each other and smiled; they knew what each other was thinking, but Keitaro decided to say it anyway. "I'm glad we're together," he said.  
  
"Me too," Naru said. Before Sean and Keitaro came into her life, it had been nothing but study, study, study. They made her realize that there's more to life than schoolwork, and she was grateful to both of them for that. If not for the two men in her life, she probably would have become a complete burnout, destroying any hope of her ever getting into Tokyo U. Indeed, they were the best things that ever happened to her.  
  
"I hope we can stay together forever," Keitaro said.  
  
Naru was caught off guard by that remark. "Do you mean--?" Before she could finish, Keitaro turned her so they were fully facing each other. This was not the time for words; this was the time for actions, and both of them had the same thing in mind. Their faces inched closer to each other, but before they could make contact, Keitaro's face was jerked back. "Keitaro, what are you--?"  
  
"Kanako, what are you doing?!" Keitaro asked, looking back at his sister; she was holding him by his hair. "Can't you see we're a little… busy right now?"  
  
"Why, Oniichan?" Kanako asked. "Why do you continue to pursue this pointless relationship?"  
  
"Pointless?!" Naru said.  
  
"Yes, pointless. He's too good to waste his life with the likes of you."  
  
"Why you impudent little--"  
  
"That's what I'm talking about," Kanako said, her calm voice never wavering. "You're too short tempered. If he stays with you, he'll be in an abusive relationship for sure. He needs to be with someone who will care for him no matter what happens; someone like me."  
  
"But Kanako--" Keitaro started to say, but was interrupted by Kanako grabbing him by the arm and trying to drag him away, but his other hand still had a firm grip on Naru's, so he wasn't going anywhere. "Kanako, I want to be with Naru, you'll only be a sister to me!"  
  
"I can't live with that! I only want the best for you, oniichan! Please, be with me and leave this bitch behind!"  
  
"No! I love Naru, and there's nothing you can do to stop it!" Seeing the look of determination on Keitaro's face reassured Naru of his affection towards her.  
  
"We'll see about that!" Kanako pulled on Keitaro's arm as hard as she could, but Naru held onto the other arm, keeping him from going anywhere.  
  
"Naru!" Keitaro yelled, ignoring the pain of being in a human tug of war. "Whatever you do, don't let go!"  
  
"Don't worry, I won't!" Naru yelled back. She wasn't about to let some insubordinate slut take her man away from her; or at least not without a damn good fight.  
  
"Give it up, Naru!" Kanako said. "There's no way you can win!"  
  
"That's what you think!"  
  
"That is what I think; and I'm not the only who does."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Just look behind you."  
  
When Naru looked back, she was immediately brought into a lip lock. The shock from this caused her grip to falter, though she didn't realize it until it was too late.  
  
"NARU!" Keitaro shouted as Kanako ran off with him in tow.  
  
Naru quickly broke off the kiss and reached out to him. "Keitaro, no!" She found herself unable to chase after them, as the man had wrapped his arms around her waist. She watched on helplessly as the two siblings faded away into the distance. "No…" she whispered, then quickly turned on her captor, who turned out to be none other than Kentaro. "YOU!!" She screamed. "It's your fault this happened!" She tried to punch him, but her fist went right through his head, leaving it unharmed. "Why?" she asked, suddenly overcome by weakness. "Why didn't you let me go after them?!"  
  
"If a loser like that wants to be with his own sister, let him. You deserve better than him. You deserve me." As Kentaro moved his head forward for another kiss, Naru tried to get away, but found herself frozen in place. There she was, stuck in an embrace with someone she'd wouldn't be with if he the last man on Earth, her boyfriend off doing who knows what with his own sister, and there was nothing she could do to prevent any of it… except…  
  
--- Friday, 4/11 7:12 AM  
  
Naru suddenly woke up in a cold sweat. This was the third time she had that same dream since Kanako's arrival, and it was starting to get to her. She couldn't shake the feeling that this dream might very well become a reality if she didn't play her cards right. "I have to tell him how I feel about her," she thought after calming down some. "There's nothing else I can do."  
  
Over the last few days, she has tried to catch Kanako's troublemaking in the act, but to no avail. She wanted her to leave with a passion, but without absolute proof, there was no way of convincing Keitaro to take her side in the matter--or so she thought.  
  
She got out of bed, changed and made her way to the door en route to the dining room and the kitchen, where Shinobu (and perhaps Sean as well) would be making breakfast. As her hand touched the portal, she heard a scream come from right below her; Keitaro's room. Fearing the worst, she rushed to open the trap door. "Are you alright?" she asked. All other words got stuck in her throat as she looked on at the startling sight.  
  
Keitaro had his back against the wall. It appeared as though he was staring into the face of death incarnate. He turned his gaze away from Naru and towards his futon--and its unexpected occupant.  
  
"What's wrong, oniichan?" Kanako asked, clutching the blanket close to her otherwise bare body. "Did I scare you?"  
  
That was it. This was what Naru was waiting for. Not wasting any time, she jumped down the hole, landing in between the two siblings.  
  
"Naru, I can explain--"  
  
"Keitaro, I'm not mad at you," she said bluntly, her gaze never leaving Kanako. From the way she was looking at her, you'd think she was expecting lasers to shoot out of her eyes at any moment.  
  
"Naru, don't hurt her," Keitaro said.  
  
"Why not?! Nobody should be allowed to share a bed with you except me!" Naru suddenly realized just what she was implying. "What I mean is--"  
  
Before Naru could fully explain, Sean opened the door. "What's going on up here? I heard screaming… oh my."  
  
"Sean! I finally caught Kanako in the act! Kick her ass out!"  
  
"Now hold on," Sean said. "Do you know for sure she's guilty?"  
  
"Just look at her! She's naked in Keitaro's bed! Need more proof?"  
  
"I suppose I should come clean," Kanako said, getting everyone's attention. "I've been coming on to oniichan since day one."  
  
Naru looked at Keitaro. "Is this true?" Keitaro slowly nodded, ashamed. "Why didn't you tell me?!"  
  
"I was afraid of what you'd do if I did. I didn't want to risk either me or her getting killed."  
  
"He does have a point," Sean said.  
  
"Shut up! Just shut up!" she cried, running out of the room.  
  
"Naru, wait!" Keitaro said, following suit.  
  
Sean heard Kanako chuckle. "And what's so funny?" he asked.  
  
"It's only a matter of time, now," she said, a sinister smile on her face. "Soon, they'll break up and he'll come running back to me."  
  
"That's what you think. They've had bigger fight over less. You think this little turn of events will keep them apart for long? Besides, I don't think any of us will have to worry about you anymore."  
  
"And why's that?"  
  
"As of today, you are evicted."  
  
"When grandma finds out about this--"  
  
"When she finds out the reason, I think she'll understand, and I intend to let her know about it. Start packing."  
  
"And what if I don't want to?"  
  
"You forget who you're talking to. Not only am I the landlord, but I'm also a wizard, and I could have you packed and on your way in an instant if I so choose. I suggest you do as I tell you if you want to leave under your own power." He left the room, hearing Kanako cursing him under her breath along the way. "I guess I should go check on Keitaro and Naru," he thought. He found Keitaro walking down the steps. "Is everything alright?"  
  
"She locked herself in her room," Keitaro said. "She won't talk to me."  
  
"Don't worry. She'll come around eventually. Plus, I've solved our little Kanako problem for now, so you'll only have to deal with the damage that's already been done."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"You'll find out along with the others at breakfast." The two men walked into the dining room, where Shinobu was just beginning to serve the morning meal.  
  
"Good morning, Keitaro," she said in her usual, cheerful manner. "How are you?"  
  
"I've felt better."  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"I assure you," Sean said. "all will be explained when the others get here."  
  
"I wonder what's troubling him," Shinobu thought. "I heard a scream from upstairs a minute ago and Sean went to investigate it; maybe that has something to do with it."  
  
A few minutes went by and Motoko, Kitsune and Suu arrived and took their seats at the table. "Alright," Sean said, "let's get this over with."  
  
"Aren't we going to wait for Naru?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Yeah, and Kanako, too," Shinobu added.  
  
"Naru may not be joining us for breakfast this morning and what I have to say is about Kanako." Everyone gave Sean their undivided attention. "This morning--and from what I hear, from the day she showed up--Kanako has been trying to seduce her brother."  
  
Kitsune was the only one with enough sense left to speak. "She what?"  
  
"It's true," Keitaro said. "When we're alone, I find her wearing revealing clothing, but that was nothing compared to what she did this morning."  
  
"That's a good way of putting it," Sean thought.  
  
"What did she do that was so horrible?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"When I woke up, I found her in my futon right next to me."  
  
"That doesn't sound so bad."  
  
"She was naked."  
  
"I take it back."  
  
"Yes," Sean said. "Incest is a horrible thing, but everything's going to be fine."  
  
"What did you do?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"She has been evicted; she's packing her things even as we speak."  
  
"Where will she go?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"That's for her to decide."  
  
"I guess the only thing left to do is fix things with Naru," Keitaro said.  
"What do you mean?" Motoko asked.  
  
"She saw what happened; and also found out how long it's been going on. That's why she's locked up in her room right now, refusing to talk to me."  
  
"She must feel so hurt right now," Shinobu said. She watched Sean get up. "Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going to get some food up to her and try to talk some sense into her."  
  
"Wait just a second," Kitsune said. "Don't you think Kanako's getting off a bit easy. I mean, she should be punished more than just getting kicked out."  
  
"And what do you suggest?" Sean said.  
  
"You're the genius when it comes to dealing out punishment, you figure it out."  
  
"Hmm," Sean muttered, stroking her chin. "You're right. Something has to be done that will have a lasting effect on her, and make her want to stay away for quite a while…" He chuckled evilly. "I think I've got it."  
  
"What do you have planned?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'll tell you later. First, I have to help out Naru." With that, he grabbed Naru's food and walked out of the room.  
  
"I think I'm going to enjoy this," Kitsune said.  
  
---  
  
Naru sat in a corner or her room, sulking, trying to force out the memory of what had just happened. Suddenly, she heard a knock on her door. "GO AWAY!!"  
  
"Naru, please," Sean said from the other side of the door. "I just want to talk to you. Plus, I brought you some of Shinobu's wonderful cooking; I wouldn't want you to go hungry now, right?"  
  
Naru sighed lightly. Someone to talk to was just the thing she needed right then. Keeping her emotions cooped up inside wouldn't do anything but lead her farther down the road to despair--and perhaps loneliness. Besides, she was getting pretty hungry. Slowly, she got up and opened the door. "Alright," she said. "Let's talk." She grabbed the tray of food and walked back to her table, Sean following close behind. A few moments of silence followed as Naru took a couple bites.  
  
"Keitaro's worried about you, you know," Sean said all of a sudden.  
  
"Hmm?" Naru asked, her mouth full.  
  
"He thinks this whole thing is all his fault."  
  
"Did he really say that?" Naru asked after swallowing.  
  
"No, but it's written all over his face. Apparently, he thinks you're mad at him for not telling you about Kanako sooner."  
  
"But why?" Naru asked, fighting back tears. "Why wouldn't he tell me?!"  
  
"You have to look at things from his point of view. Even through all the things Kanako's done to him over the last few days, she's still his sister, and he didn't want to risk you hurting her, even if your reasons were justified."  
  
Tears now flowed freely down Naru's face. "Damn it," she said. "Why does he have to be such a nice guy?! He can't stand to see anyone in pain but himself! He's too kindhearted for his own good!" She buried her face in Sean's chest.  
  
"That's it, Naru," Sean said. "Let it all out. Everything's going to be alright." The next few minutes went by with Naru crying into Sean's shirt. "You'll have to talk to him sooner or later; let him know how you feel." He moved Naru away so he could look at her face. "And you can't be crying when you do." He placed a hand under Naru's chin and forced her to look him straight in the eye. "You're much cuter when you smile."  
  
Naru grinned, wiping away the remainder of her tears. "Thank you."  
  
"No problem. Now, I'll go so you can finish eating and start getting ready for school." Sean got up and started towards the door.  
  
"Hold on a sec," Naru said. "What about Kanako?"  
  
"Oh, don't you worry, that's been taken care of. She won't be bothering Keitaro for a long time."  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
"As you put it, I 'Kicked her ass out.'"  
  
Naru's face lit up. "You mean she's gone?"  
  
"She's getting her things together right now; though before she goes, I intend to having a little fun with her."  
  
"What are you planning?" Sean walked over and whispered something in her ear, making her blush. "You gotta be kidding me!" Seeing Sean's evil smile proved otherwise. "Oh man, that's just mean."  
  
"Don't you think it's an appropriate punishment?"  
  
"Well, sure, but she's going to be pretty mad."  
  
"Who cares? She won't be here for long anyway." He got up and went back to the door, stopping when he got there. "On a personal note, I'm glad I could prevent this whole thing from becoming a full scale war."  
  
"Me too."  
  
--- 8:01 AM  
  
Either by design or by circumstance, Keitaro and Naru didn't see each other again until they left for school that morning. "Uh, Naru?" Keitaro asked as they walked down the steps. "I'm sorry for not telling you about Kanako."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Naru said. "I know you care for your little sister and you just wanted to protect her, even thought she tried to seduce you any number of times." She smiled as she playfully jabbed him in the arm. "Though in the future, you should trust me enough to tell me these things a lot sooner. You know I've gotten much better at controlling my temper lately."  
  
"Is that so?" a voice said when they reached the bottom of the steps.  
  
Naru recognized the voice in an instant, though she wished she hadn't. "Oh no," she muttered.  
  
"Oh yes," the man said. "It is I, Kentaro Sakata, here to visit my dear Naru!"  
  
"Oh, shut up," Naru said.  
  
Kentaro was stunned; it wasn't often he was the target of such words. As he watched Naru and Keitaro walk by, he regained his composure and played his trump card. "So, have you been getting my love letters?"  
  
Naru stopped dead in her tracks. "Uh oh," she thought.  
  
"Love letters?" Keitaro asked, raising an eyebrow. "He's been sending you love letters?!"  
  
"I've gotten one every other day since we first met him," Naru said. She knew the tables had just been turned.  
  
A not-so-friendly expression appeared on Keitaro's face. "Is that so?" Naru didn't like that tone of voice, but she noticed that he wasn't looking at her. "You've been bugging my girlfriend?" he asked, approaching Kentaro.  
  
"Yeah, so what?"  
  
"You picked a wrong time to bring this up. I've needed to let off some steam lately, and you'll work just fine."  
  
Kentaro laughed. "Oh, please. You probably hit like a girl."  
  
Keitaro smiled. "Is that what you think?"  
  
"Keitaro," Naru said. "You don't have to do this."  
  
"I think someone wants to get her licks in too," Keitaro said, still smiling. "Don't worry, I'll let you get him next time. Now where was I… oh yes, I was about to kick your sorry butt!"  
  
"I'd like to see you try," Kentaro said.  
  
"That's all I needed to hear." As soon as Keitaro got within arm's reach, Kentaro swung out at him, but with skill that surprised both Kentaro and Naru, he avoided the attack and gave his opponent a shot in the stomach, causing him to double over. A backhand to the back of the neck laid Kentaro out flat on the ground. "Want more?" Kentaro slowly got up and gave Keitaro a look of hatred for a few moments before leaving in a huff. "I think he forgot that you're a girl, Naru."  
  
"Uh, Keitaro?" Naru asked. "How did you do that?"  
  
"Sean's not the only one training with Motoko. Now, what's this about him sending you love letters?"  
  
"Uh, sorry I didn't tell you. At first, I didn't think much of them, but they just kept coming--"  
  
"You know what, let's just let my not telling you about Kanako and you not telling me about Kentaro cancel each other out and move on with our lives."  
  
"Good idea."  
  
"Now, what do you say we get toOOPS!" Keitaro tripped over his own feet. In his descent, he grabbed for something to help slow him down, and it ended up being Naru's skirt.  
  
"He's still the same old klutz," Naru thought, a vein appearing in her forehead, but quickly vanished. "But still, I can't stay mad at him. Hey, I know…" She pulled her skirt back up and knelt in front of Keitaro. As he got up, he noticed a strange smile on Naru's face. "Not here, not now."  
  
Keitaro watched Naru get up and walk off, confused by what she said. "Wait," he said, rushing to her side. "What did you mean by that?"  
  
"You'll find out," Naru said. "…Maybe…"  
  
--- 9:42 AM  
  
"Well, I guess I'll be on my way," Kanako said as she entered the living room, luggage in hand.  
  
"Actually," Sean said from his seat on the couch; Kitsune sat beside him. "There's something I want you to see before you go. Have a seat." He stood up and motioned for her to take his place.  
  
"What do you have in mind?" Kanako asked as she sat down.  
  
"You'll see." Sean reached into his pocket and retrieved what appeared to be a garage door opener. "Here," he tossed the device to Kitsune. "Go get the video for October 2nd."  
  
"Why me?"  
  
"I want you to see what I have planned."  
  
Kitsune nodded, then went up to Sean's room. Pressing the button on the remote she held, the door to the video vault vanished. "Well," she said to herself as she walked in. "This thing will certainly come in handy. Now, let's see…" She scanned the room until she found the disk she was looking for. She noticed how it was labeled; "Alicia: Day 2."  
  
"Oh, that's right," she thought. "That was back when Sean was a girl and we didn't know any better." She suddenly recalled what happened on that day, and her eyes grew wide. "Oh man, he's going to have to explain this one." She rushed back to the living room.  
  
"Ah, you're back," Sean said. "I see you found it without any trouble."  
  
"Sean get over here," Kitsune said, grabbing Sean by the arm and leading him out of the room. "What are you thinking?!" She whispered to him. "Why did you pick this one?"  
  
"You remember what happened that day, right?"  
  
"Of course, that's why I'm wondering."  
  
"Think of it this way; she's been trying to get with Keitaro, right? Well, as a sendoff, I plan on showing her exactly what she'll be missing out on."  
  
Kitsune was speechless for a few moments. "You're sick, you know that?"  
  
Sean giggled evilly. "Let's go watch her squirm, shall we?"  
  
Kitsune thought what Sean was planning was just wrong, but she had to admit, it should be very entertaining.  
  
"Alright," Sean said, reentering the living room. "Let's get this show on the road; it'll be one you'll never forget. You're about to see a side of Keitaro you've only seen in your dreams." Sean started playing the video. After a while, it was obvious Kanako was getting uncomfortable, for one reason or another.  
  
"I don't want to see any more of this," Kanako said. She tried to turn away, but found herself unable to move. "What's going on?!"  
  
"I took a certain precaution," Sean said. "You're going to watch this whole thing, whether you like it or not."  
  
"Oh God," Kanako thought. "I'm being tortured!"  
  
Sean observed Kanako's reaction to the movie through the whole ordeal. He could tell she was getting hot and bothered, which was the desired effect. When the movie ended, Sean decided to begin the second phase of his plan. He stroked Kanako's chin with his finger, provoking a sigh from her. "Ah, it seems you were enjoying my little show." He tilted her brightly blushing face so he could look her in the eye. "And I think forcing you to watch that is a suitable punishment, am I right?"  
  
"Why?" Kanako asked, barely able to form the words. "Why were you with my oniichan like that?"  
  
"For starters, he didn't know that was really me at the time; nobody did."  
  
"So," Kitsune said. "What are we going to do with her?"  
  
"We shouldn't delay her departure any longer than we have to. I don't care where you go, but you can't stay here."  
  
"Wait--" Kanako said.  
  
"Buh-bye!"  
  
The next thing she knew, Kanako was able to move again; and that she was right outside the front door. She tried to open the door, but found it locked. "Hey!" she yelled. "You can't just leave me like this!"  
  
Suddenly, her luggage appeared by her side. "Will you pipe down?!" Sean yelled from inside. "We're trying to relax in here! Honestly, the nerve of some people…"  
  
Kanako was enraged by the laughter she was hearing from inside. She grabbed her bags and ran off, partially to work off some of the excess energy that had built up during the screening. A few moments went by and an idea hit her.  
  
("You know," Kitsune said. "There is a flaw in your big plan."  
  
"And what's that?" Sean asked.)  
  
Kanako walked up to the tea shop and stepped inside.  
  
("You said that she couldn't stay here, but that doesn't include the tea shop, does it?")  
  
"Hey aunt Haruka," Kanako said. "Could I stay here with you for a while?"  
  
("I don't think we have to worry about that. Haruka already has her hands full with Sarah; she doesn't need some brother loving psycho hanging around too.")  
  
"Hell no!" Haruka said, whacking Kanako in the back of the head. "And don't call me 'aunt!'"  
  
"How can you just shun me like this?!" Kanako asked.  
  
"Here's how." Haruka grabbed the back of Kanako's shirt and tossed her out the front door.  
  
"See ya!" Sarah said. "Wouldn't wanna be ya!" Kanako left the premises, muttering angrily to herself.  
  
("I suppose you're right," Kitsune said.  
  
"Hey, what's that you got there?" Sean asked.  
  
"That wasn't the only video I grabbed from your stash."  
  
Sean noticed the label on the DVD case: October 31st. "Uh, do you really want to watch that?"  
  
"I just want to see how good Motoko really is," Kitsune said, putting the disc into the DVD player.  
  
"How did you find out about that, anyway?" Sean asked. "And do I have to watch with you?!")  
  
End of Chapter XL   
  
A bit abrupt perhaps, but I think it works. Besides, you don't really think that's the last we'll see of Kanako, do you? Anyway, I'm really (ahem) excited about the next chapter. See you then! Please R&R! (Oh, and in case you're wondering, the () sections were intended to be voice-overs.) 


	43. Ch41: Reparations

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Well, I'll just let the chapter speak for itself on this one.  
  
Chapter XLI: Reparations   
  
Saturday, 4/26 2:41 AM  
  
Alicia woke up to another dark morning. "Well, another day, another… whatever the hell the exchange rate for a dollar is these days," she said unenthusiastically. She couldn't even remember the last time she woke up after sunrise. "Might as well get my duties over with." She walked over to the closet to decide what to wear for the day (at least while in female form). "You know what," she said after a minute or two. "Screw it. Nobody else is ever awake at this time in the morning, and I might as well take advantage of it." She closed the closet, deciding on doing her chores in the buff.  
  
Now, here's where the day started to turn awry. When Alicia reached the door, she found it extremely hard to open. "What the hell…?" She tried as hard as she could, but the door refused to budge. "Hmm, why would they lock my door? Oh well." She figured that if the door couldn't be opened by mundane means, she could just teleport around it but, as she found out, she was unable to do that as well. "Okay," she thought. "This is starting to creep me out. Somebody doesn't want me to leave my room, but why?"  
  
After a few minutes of contemplation, she figured she'd make the best of a bad situation. (Well, it really wasn't that bad, but being locked in your room isn't that good, either.) She grabbed her Game Boy Advance and started playing Final Fantasy Tactics Advance. For her, video games have always been a good way to get her mind away from the more unpleasant things in life, but in this case, it wouldn't help as much as she hoped.  
  
After almost fifteen minutes, she turned off the game and went back to her closet. The whole time, her breasts and crotch were right in her line of sight, and she was starting to get turned on because of it. She opened the closet, grabbed the first thing she saw and quickly threw it on. As she went to continue playing her game, she realized she should have paid closer attention to what she picked out, as the friction between the silk nightgown she was wearing and her flesh (especially a few areas in particular) only served to turn the spark within her into a small fire.  
  
She grumbled to herself as she pulled the garment off her (stoking the fire father in the process.). "It just had to happen while I'm confined, didn't it?" She glared at the accursed door that kept him away from the other girls. "It's just as well. I wouldn't want to wake anyone up just to fulfill my needs." She put a hand to her chest and could feel her slowly increasing heart rate; it took all her concentration to keep from spreading her fingers. "But I don't know if I can hold out long enough for somebody else to wake up on their own. I might be forced to…" She knew that she was perfectly capable of releasing her pent up hormones on her own, but she knew from experience that two was much better than one. Besides, there was always the risk of someone walking in on her, and being caught masturbating wasn't something she would ever look forward to.  
  
Alicia paced around her room (another habit of hers), trying to think of some other way to deal with her current situation; she knew the heat within her wasn't going to fade on its own any time soon. Eventually, she sat down on her futon to give her legs a rest. "Oh, I can deal with the others' being aroused and coming on to me just fine," she thought bitterly. "Why are my own hormones so hard to deal with?!" She laid down, resting her head on her hands, mostly to prevent them from moving elsewhere.  
  
A few minutes went by and she felt her body start to cool down, much to her relief, but just as she was about to relax her defenses, a new attack would be brought forth against her. All of a sudden, Alicia's mind became cluttered with images of the other girls in various states of undress and of past encounters with them. This caused the warmth within her that had all but vanished to come back with a vengeance.  
  
It was at this point that Alicia's body decided to rebel against her. Her hands tore out from under her head and started caressing her body, sending waves of pleasure through her. The battle for control was almost completely one-sided, but the small part of her mind that still had some rational thought left knew that something had to be done to stop this from going too far, no matter how good it'd feel; as much as she wanted to continue, she didn't want to do it alone.  
  
Her breathing started to get heavy as her hands made their way to her breasts; as they gently moved across those two mounds, her mind almost shut down completely. There was one last gasp of conscious thought before she would give in to her raging hormones; and that would be all she'd need. She released one of her breasts to move some of her hair from her face. Her hand remained on her forehead for a brief moment, and the hand that was still groping her stopped in its tracks. In fact, her whole body stopped moving entirely as darkness engulfed her senses.  
  
--- 6:25 AM  
  
When Alicia was aware of her surrounding again, she noticed, even with her eyes closed, that daybreak was upon her. "Well," she thought. "That worked." She stretched her arms out, one of them coming into contact with something--no, someone. "What the--?" Still keeping her eyes closed, she tried to identify her unexpected visitor. "Hmm, soft skin, long hair… it seems a certain swordswoman has come to play." This delighted Alicia, as she was still in a playful mood herself.  
  
"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."  
  
This forced Alicia to open her eyes and reevaluate her current situation; that did not sound like Motoko. "Naru? What are you doing here?"  
  
"Were you expecting someone else?" Naru asked, smiling.  
  
"Well, sight unseen, I thought you were Motoko. I'm sure you understand."  
  
"Yeah, I can see how she'd be more inclined to do something like this."  
  
"Which brings me back to my question: What are you doing here; and also, why are you naked?"  
  
"Should I be asking you the same thing?"  
  
"What I do in my room is my own business."  
  
"I'm sure it is. You know you've helped me out in many occasions, right?"  
  
"Of course."  
  
"You've helped me study for Toudai, sparked the chain of events that got me and Keitaro together and also got rid of Kanako, just to name a few."  
  
"I'm glad to have been of such help to you during my stay."  
  
"That brings me to why I'm here." Naru started to blush. "Remember early on when Kitsune got you drunk?"  
  
"Um, before or after I got possessed?"  
  
"Before."  
  
Alicia narrowed her eyes. "Hey wasn't that when--" Her eyes grew wide. "Oh man, that's right."  
  
"Yeah. That is one experience I will never forget. You have done so much for me, and I've done so little in return; you're more than overdue."  
  
"Overdue for what?"  
  
"For this." Naru climbed on top of Alicia.  
  
"You mean--"  
  
"Kitsune and Motoko both returned the favor; and it's high time I did too."  
  
"But what about Keitaro? What would he do if he found out about this?"  
  
"This is just me repaying an old debt, Sean; I'm sure he'd understand. Of course, that's if he ever finds out. Now, just lie back, relax and let me take care of you." She pinned Alicia's arms to the ground, letting her know she had no choice in the matter.  
  
"Yes ma'am," Alicia said. Her arousal had resurfaced at some point in the conversation, but she made no effort to resist this time around. "Mmm," she purred as Naru started lightly kissing her on the neck.  
  
Noticing Alicia's very positive reaction made Naru feel that much more comfortable with what she was doing. She slowly moved her kisses down Alicia's body, stopping at her breasts.  
  
Alicia felt Naru's tongue swirl around just outside her left nipple, causing her to moan and arch her back. Her body was aching with the need to give her other breast at least some attention, but since Naru still had a firm hold on her wrists, and she wasn't strong enough to break free, she found herself unable to do anything about it. Fortunately, Naru eventually made the switch, and a new wave of pleasure rushed through her.  
  
"I really should have thought of doing this a long time ago," Naru thought as she sucked and nibbled on Alicia's nipple and listened to the blissful moans and sighs coming from her. Over time, (and switching breasts a couple times) the sounds rose in volume and pitch until, much to Naru's surprise, they became muffled. Curiosity taking over, she looked up to find Alicia biting her lip, her eyes shut tight. "What is she--" It suddenly came to her; Alicia was trying to keep the noise she was making to a dull roar. The last thing she wanted to do was wake up the whole house, especially Keitaro right next door. "Even now, in the heat of passion, she's still being considerate. Time to put her at ease… well, sort of."  
  
Alicia felt Naru stop what she was doing, but before she could say or do anything, Naru had her in a lip lock. "What was that for?" she asked.  
  
"Would it matter?"  
  
"I was just curious."  
  
"Just do me a favor and stop talking, alright?" Naru was about to kiss Alicia again to reinforce her request, but was stopped short when a jolt shot through her. She quickly found the source; her crotch had rubbed up against Alicia's. It felt good; real good.  
  
Suddenly finding her arms free, Alicia quickly wrapped them around Naru and brought her close so that she could get as much bodily contact as possible. Naru started to moan as Alicia grinded herself against her. She had just lost her dominance in this situation, but she didn't give a damn at this point.  
  
The next few minutes went by with Alicia rubbing her breasts and privates against Naru's, sending them both to greater and greater heights until they reached their peak at the same time, making sounds that were a few decibels short of being screams.  
  
As they came down from their high, Naru rolled off Alicia, lying next to her on the futon. "Oh my God," Alicia said after a few moments. "That was wonderful."  
  
"You said it," Naru said.  
  
"You have no idea how much I needed that."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"You know I never sleep this late in the morning, right?"  
  
"Yeah; I was wondering about that when I got here."  
  
"In the past, as a last resort, I've used sleep spells to deal with the girls if they get… out of hand; and apparently, I'm not exempt from this."  
  
"You mean--"  
  
"Yeah. That's kind of what happens when someone's locked in a room alone with her hormones, which brings up a question: How did you get in?"  
  
"Through the door, how else?"  
  
"That's the thing; I wasn't able to open my door earlier this morning. I couldn't even teleport out. How is it that you can get in, but I can't get out?"  
  
"We all decided that you needed a day off, and since you wake up well before any of us, we had to figure out some way to keep you from doing your chores."  
  
"So you locked me in my room, is that it?" Naru nodded. "I think you forgot to consider what might happen to me should you do something like that, so next time you girls decide to coop me up in here, one of you had better be in here when I wake up, just in case."  
  
Naru chuckled a bit. "Alright. Let's go get cleaned up, shall we?"  
  
"Yeah, good idea." Alicia and Naru got up off the futon, which the sorceress quickly cleaned and put away. Alicia then produced towels for each of them and--more carefully this time--picked out a change of clothes for both Naru and herself, which was easy to do, as both girls were almost exactly the same size. After wrapping the towels around their bodies, they left the formerly locked room and headed for the hot spring.  
  
Before they could get to their destination, they happened upon a drunk Kitsune in the living room. "Hey, guys!" she said. "Having fun, were we?"  
  
"What?" Alicia asked, worry starting to appear on her face. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Oh, don't be so modest," Kitsune said, waving a finger at them. "I could hear you all the way down here."  
  
"You could?! Then Keitaro--"  
  
"Doesn't know a thing, trust me," Naru said.  
  
"So that's why you had Shinobu secretly soundproof Keitaro's room last night," Kitsune said, her usual grin forming. "You must have been thinking about doing this for some time now, haven't you?"  
  
"Longer than you think," Naru thought, blushing.  
  
"So," Kitsune said turning her attention to Alicia. "How was it?"  
  
"You heard what happened," Alicia said, also blushing. "What do you think?"  
  
"I think Naru just joined our little group; and you're a welcome addition if I do say so myself."  
  
Naru shook her head. "That was only a one time thing. Don't count on it happening again any time soon."  
  
Kitsune shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well. I'm sure it was good while it lasted. I guess you'll be focusing your attention on Keitaro from now on. Speaking of which, how far have you two gone together, anyway?"  
  
Naru blushed again. "Why do you want to know?"  
  
"Just curious."  
  
"Like I'm going to tell you."  
  
"Aw, come on Naru," Alicia said. "You can tell us. Have you and him had intimate moments like we just did?"  
  
"Leave me alone, will you?"  
  
"Maybe even… gone all the way?"  
  
"WHAT?!"  
  
"I'm not hearing a no," Kitsune noted.  
  
"Hey, stop prying into my personal life!"  
  
Alicia and Kitsune exchanged glances, grinned evilly and taunted Naru in unison. "Keitaro and Naru, sitting in a tree; F-U-C--"  
  
"Stop it! Stop it!" Naru shot out of the room like a bat out of hell. As soon as she left, Alicia and Kitsune busted out laughing.  
  
"I guess that settles it," Kitsune said. "They've done it."  
  
"We don't know that for sure, do we?"  
  
"Oh, come on. It was obvious from the way she reacted."  
  
"That she doesn't want us asking such personal questions. We have no absolute proof of what those two have done at this point."  
  
"You always need proof," Kitsune said. "Why can't you just use your gut like I do?"  
  
"I case you haven't noticed by now, my gut hasn't been of that much importance to me lately."  
  
"That's not what I meant."  
  
"I know," Sean said, walking out of the room.  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Can't you tell? I'm going out to the hot spring."  
  
"Wait up, I'll go with you." Kitsune got up off the couch, stumbling a bit in the process.  
  
"Need any help?"  
  
"Nah, I'll be alright." She then slipped on one of the empty sake bottles strewn about, falling flat on her face. She looked up to find Alicia right in front of her, holding a hand out to help her to her feet. "Uh, thanks."  
  
"No problem," Alicia said as she helped Kitsune get to the changing room on her own two feet. "Drunk," she added under her breath.  
  
"Workaholic," Kitsune shot back.  
  
After Kitsune stripped out of her clothes and grabbed a towel, they went out into the hot spring to find Naru already there, who at this moment didn't look all that happy to see them. "Are you two going to pester me about my sex life again?!"  
  
"Nah," Alicia said. "What you and him do together is none of our business."  
"Good."  
  
Alicia and Kitsune joined Naru in the water and they spent the next few minutes relaxing in silence before Alicia spoke up. "This was Motoko's idea, wasn't it?"  
  
"What?" Naru asked, wondering what she was referring to.  
  
"This day off. It was Motoko's idea, right?"  
  
"Yeah. How'd you know?"  
  
"It wouldn't be the first time she brought up my work habits, though I suppose she does have a point. In the past, most of the time, the only time off I got was when I was too injured to work. A break while I'm healthy is just the thing I need, even if it's just for one day." Alicia then sank lower into the water and reveled in the relaxation the hot spring provided.  
  
When Alicia eventually returned to her room, she found Motoko there waiting for her. After receiving a full body massage (Interpret that however you want, folks!), she would spend most of the day playing video games with Suu; with Shinobu joining in for a couple games. They were having so much fun, they lost track of time until nightfall.  
  
--- 11:48 PM  
  
"Holy cow!" Suu said. "How did you get so good at playing video games?!"  
  
"Maybe it was because I've been playing since before you were born!" Alicia said. "I think that kinda gives me an advantage."  
  
"Well, I'm going to head for bed now. I look forward to going up against you again, now that I know just how good you really are."  
  
After Suu left, Alicia turned to Shinobu. "Is that a good thing or a bad thing?"  
  
Shinobu giggled a bit. "I couldn't tell you." A short silence followed before she spoke again. "If you don't mind, I'd like to sleep here with you tonight."  
  
"Why would I mind?"  
  
"It's just that last time we started sleeping in the same bed, it had a certain affect on you."  
  
"Oh yeah, that. Well, I guess we'll just deal with that if it happens, won't we? Go on to your room and get ready."  
  
"Actually, I have a better idea." She walked over to the closet. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she thought, trying her best to hid her smile as she walked in, closing the door behind her.  
  
"What is that girl up to?" Alicia thought. Her question was quickly answered when the closet opened and saw what Shinobu had planned. "Oh man, it just had to be that one, didn't it?" she thought as she saw the silk nightgown she wore; the same one she briefly had on that morning.  
  
"How do I look?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I think we both know that answer to that one."  
  
"So," Shinobu said, "How was your day off?"  
  
"It was pretty good, though in the future, you should just tell me these things instead of having me find out the hard way." Alicia went to her closet, changed, and joined Shinobu in bed.  
  
"Yeah, I guess what we did was a bit sneaky, huh?"  
  
"Yeah, though I know you had good intentions. Have a nice sleep, Shinobu."  
  
"Good night." It didn't take long for Shinobu to fall asleep, but Alicia found herself unable to, as the wheels in her head were still turning.  
  
"Everything was perfect today," she thought. "Except for my confinement." She looked at her hand, and the ring that was on it. "And this is the cause of all of it. Because of this ring, I have an extra six hours or so in the day to deal with. If it wasn't for this thing, I wouldn't have to search for things to do in the mornings. Then again, I'd have to start eating meals again, but considering the way Shinobu cooks, that's not necessarily a bad thing." She spent the next few minutes just staring at the ring…  
  
---  
  
When she woke up the next morning, Shinobu was surprised to find Alicia next to her, still fast asleep. If she had looked at her hand, she would have noticed that the ring was no longer there.  
  
End of Chapter XLI   
  
Yeah, I know what some of you are thinking; "When will he stop with all the sex stuff?" Of course, others are no doubt wondering when the next one will be. Well, I don't have the exact answer for that one, but at the rate I'm going, it might not be that long. Anyway, in the next chapter, I'll be back to being more serious. See you then! Please R&R! 


	44. Ch42: The Hunted

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Chapter XLII: The Hunted   
  
"Hello?" Sean called out as he entered the living room. "Is anybody here?" He was starting to get worried, as it was late in the day and he hadn't seen any of the girls or Keitaro anywhere. "Is this some sort of trick? If it is, you can end it now!"  
  
The only response he got was a faint sound coming from upstairs. As he neared the source and the sound became more distinct, he recognized it as laughter, but it didn't quite sound human; and it got him more worried. "Who's up there?" he couldn't help but ask himself. Much to his surprise, the trail led him to his room. Curious and slightly irritated, he opened the door to find complete darkness within. The inhuman laughter was coming from somewhere inside that room, and it sounded like there was more than one; whoever--or whatever--was inside, it wasn't alone. "Um, why are you in my room?" he asked with about as much certainty as one can have in this kind of situation.  
  
All of a sudden, the laughing stopped, and a pair of glowing red eyes appeared in the darkness. "Oh, hello, Sean," a voice said. "Have you come to play with us?"  
  
"Yes," another voice said, accompanied by it's own set of eyes. "Play with us."  
  
Sean could have sworn he'd heard those voices somewhere before, but they were so distorted, he couldn't get any positive IDs on them. "Um, well…" he started to say nervously as he backed away from the door.  
  
"Come on, Sean," the second voice said. "Play with us."  
  
"It's not like you have a choice or anything," the first voice added.  
  
"WHAT?!" Sean was starting to get really scared at this point. The laughing continued in the room and the eyes were joined by smiles that should only be seen in Alice in Wonderland. When he heard approaching footsteps, he broke out into a run, and quickly found himself at the end of the hallway. Looking back, he saw a cloud of darkness leave his room and head in his direction. "What do you want from me?!" he asked.  
  
"All we want is to play with you," voice A said, eyes and smile still visible.  
  
"Do I want to know what you want to play?"  
  
"You'll find out soon enough."  
  
"I didn't think so," Sean thought. He knew that he'd have to put up some defenses if he hoped to stop… whatever the hell they were… from "playing" with him. Quickly, he put up a force field across the hallway, but to his horror, the beings passed right through it as though it was never there. "Oh, crap." After seeing his defensive spells fail him, he switched to the offensive. In true Yu Yu Hakusho style, he pointed a finger at one of the creatures and fired a bullet of energy at it, entering the darkness right between the eyes, but hearing his shot hit the force wall let him know it didn't connect with it's intended target.  
  
"Now now," voice B said. "There's no need for such aggression. Besides, why would you want to hurt us?"  
  
Suddenly, something clicked in his head. "No, it couldn't be," he thought, finally recognizing the voices. The darkness started to disperse and his eyes grew wide when he saw who it was. "Oh my God!" he said. "It's you!" More eerie laughter was heard as the two lunged for the cowering landlord. "NOOO!"  
  
--- Monday, 6/2 6:15 AM  
  
Alicia woke up from her nightmare, Sean's screaming still echoing in her head. "Oh man," she muttered, holding a hand to her chest. "That's a new one."  
  
"What's wrong?" Shinobu asked. She had woken up just minutes before.  
  
"It's just this dream I just had," Alicia said, her blood pressure slowly getting back to normal. "There were demons in it; two of them."  
  
"Demons?"  
  
"Yeah, and nothing I could do could stop them, and when they got to me, they…" she shuddered at the thought.  
  
"At least it was just a dream," Shinobu said.  
  
Alicia nodded, but there was something in the back of her mind saying this was more than a mere dream; if only she could remember who the two demonic creatures were.  
  
"Are you going to be alright?" Shinobu asked after a few moments of silence.  
  
"Yeah," Alicia said, getting up. "I'll be fine." As she changed into Sean, got dressed and prepared himself for the day ahead, he couldn't shake the feeling that there was something important that he should be remembering, but it just never came to mind. "Oh well," he thought. "I'm sure it'll hit me sooner or later." He had no idea just how right he was. "I'm going to go clean the hot spring, okay?"  
  
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I'll start making breakfast in a little while. Don't get killed!" She said that last part with a smile.  
  
"I won't," Sean said, smiling back; this was a bit of a joke between the two, referring back to when cleaning the hot spring was a health risk. However, on this day, he would quickly realize that this task would be easier said than done. As soon as he set foot into the hallway, he let out a shriek as Suu and Sarah attacked him; one kicking him in the head, one in the side.  
  
Quick as a flash, Shinobu was at his side. "Are you alright?!"  
  
"I'll live," Sean groaned.  
  
"Yay!" Suu yelled as she pulled Sean to his feet, seemingly unaware of the damage she just caused. "Summer's finally here!"  
  
"Yeah!" Sarah said, jumping up and latching herself to Sean's back. "Now we can play all day long!"  
  
"Lovely," Sean thought as Suu dragged him down the hallway. He bit his lip to keep from griping out loud.  
  
The look of worry was apparent on Shinobu's face as she watched the trio vanish around a corner. "This is going to be a long summer," she said to herself, then went to go make breakfast, genuinely wondering just how many people would actually be showing up for it.  
  
---  
  
"Where are you taking me?" Sean asked as Suu lead him up to the third floor.  
  
"You'll find out soon enough," Suu said.  
  
The giggling coming from both Suu and Sarah (who was still getting a piggy-back ride) only made Sean more curious about what was going to happen; which in turn made him more worried. "This won't end well," he thought. When he came out of his very grim thoughts, he was suddenly aware that the little group he had involuntarily become a part of had come to a halt in front of Suu's door.  
  
"Come on," Suu said, motioning for Sarah to get off Sean's back. "Let's go get ready." As they walked into her room, Suu looked back at Sean. "Go to the roof; we'll meet you there."  
  
"Uh, right," Sean said as he watched the two girls enter Suu's room, quickly closing the door behind them. As he made his way to the steps to the roof, he found himself looking back the way he came more than a couple times. Maybe it was paranoia, maybe it was his past experiences with Suu and Sarah, maybe his dream had a greater effect on him than he at first thought, but whatever the cause, he had a very bad feeling about the situation he was in.  
  
When he reached the roof platform, Sean found Motoko already there. From the look of things, she had just finished her morning exercises. "Hello, Sean," she said. "Isn't this a beautiful morning?" she asked, looking out at the view of the town.  
  
"Yeah, wonderful," Sean responded.  
  
Noticing Sean's sarcastic tone, Motoko turned around and saw him looking back down the steps. "What's wrong?"  
  
"It's Suu and Sarah," Sean said. "What with summer vacation now under way, they have a lot more time on their hands; and guess who their full time playmate is."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"You're telling me. You should head downstairs so you don't get hurt."  
  
"But what about--"  
  
"Don't worry about me. I've survived this place so far, and I don't intend to end that streak any time soon."  
  
"I guess I'll see you at breakfast, then."  
  
Sean nodded as he watched Motoko head downstairs, secretly hoping she wasn't walking into an ambush. When she was out of sight, Sean walked over to the rail and gazed out at the view. "I wonder if every morning's going to be like this," he said to himself. He spent what felt like an eternity just staring off into space until he was violently brought back to reality.  
  
"HEY, SEAN!!" Sarah yelled right into Sean's ear.  
  
"WHAT?!" Sean quickly turned around to find the business end of a bazooka staring him in the face. "WHOA!" He was barely able to move out of the way before Sarah pulled the trigger, the missile passing within a foot of his head. He looked back at the speeding projectile, held his arm out towards it and it detonated in mid-air. "At least I can keep them from hurting anyone else," he thought before turning back to his attacker. "Was that really necessary?!"  
  
Sarah just giggled and ran back to the stairs, where Suu was waiting with a squad of tanks ready to go; for obvious reasons, she was smiling at her target. She pressed a couple buttons on the controller in her hand and each tank fired a missile in Sean's general direction.  
  
Strangely enough, Sean was smiling as well. He had encountered Suu's abundant arsenal a few times before, and knew what it took to beat it, and it seemed to get easier and easier each time. He pointed a finger at the oncoming swarm and they all exploded before they could make contact, bathing the area between Sean and Suu in smoke. "Is that all you got?" Sean asked.  
  
"Hardly!" Suu yelled as she launched another volley of missiles at Sean. They entered the cloud all at once and… nothing happened. No explosions, no screams of agony, no sounds whatsoever. After a few moments of this eerie silence, Suu heard Sean start to laugh from his side of the smoke, and she started to get concerned.  
  
"You'll have to do better than that!" Sean said. "I suggest you take a step back." All of a sudden, Suu saw the weapons she had just unleashed appear from over the haze. All she could do was watch as each missile made contact with a tank, blowing all of them to pieces. Needless to say, she wasn't too pleased by this turn of events.  
  
"NO!" Suu screamed as she looked at what was left of her toys. "You destroyed my babies! Now you must pay!" She got out a walkie-talkie from out of nowhere. "Sarah! Activate the bombers!"  
  
Sarah's response was immediate. "But you said you were still testing those."  
  
"I don't care what I said! Get them up here, NOW!"  
  
"Alright," Sarah said with a sigh. "I hope you know what you're doing."  
  
Now, you must understand, Sean hasn't seen Suu this upset that often, but from what he has seen in the past, he knew she wasn't one to take grief gracefully. With this knowledge at hand, he knew he was in big trouble, especially if Sarah was concerned about what Suu had planned.  
  
The fog had long since lifted and Sean was able to see the rubble that had once been Suu's tank squad, but the new force Suu had lined up against him would quickly demand his immediate attention. On a reflex, he ducked his head a bit as five low flying planes zoomed over him from behind. They looked like mere model planes, but knowing Suu, they were no doubt carrying some heavy firepower; perhaps more than the tanks did, considering Sarah's reluctance to deploy them.  
  
"Alright, bombers," Suu said, fire blazing in her eyes. "Open fire!"  
  
Sean watched as the planes turned around to face him. He crossed his arms in front of his face and his shield appeared just in time to receive the barrage of machine gun fire from this new wave of fighting machines. His defenses easily protected him from the attack, as the bullets were not as powerful as the missiles from the tanks, but the sheer length of time he had to maintain the spell proved to make this latest strike more strenuous for him than the first. He breathed a sigh of relief when the planes passed by overhead, leaving him unscathed, but he had a feeling that this wasn't over yet, no matter how much he wished it was.  
  
Suu bellowed another command as the fleet made another round. "Drop your payload!" Sean watched as the bottom of each plane open up and a multitude of tiny bombs poured out of them. What with the lack of any better ideas, he made a leap of faith over the intended bombing sight. He was so preoccupied with avoiding one attack, he was completely unaware of another until there was nothing he could do to avoid it.  
  
"GOTCHA!" Sarah yelled as she fired her newly reloaded bazooka from her position halfway up the steps.  
  
"Oh shit," Sean thought as he watched a rocket speed towards him. As he was still reaching the apex of his jump, all he could do was raise another defense. The rocket hit his shield, leaving Sean unharmed, but the force of the blast knocked him backwards, altering his flight path and sending him to a new landing site--three stories down.  
  
"Yeah!" Sarah cheered, pumping her fist in the air. "We got him!" She glanced at Suu, half-expecting her to be celebrating as well, but all she was did was gather up what was left of her beloved tanks and make her way downstairs in complete silence, the planes following shortly after. "Suu?" Sarah called out to her, but she didn't respond. "C'mon, girl, talk to me!"  
  
---  
  
Kitsune was bathing in the hot spring when the rooftop onslaught began. Figuring it would be pretty entertaining, she watched the battle unfold, not surprised that Sean was able to hold off whoever was attacking him. After seeing a few planes start buzzing around him, she saw him jump to avoid some explosions only to be hit by a rocket and sent flying over the edge of the roof. She cringed when she saw him land hard on his right foot not too far away from her. "Are you alright?" she asked, getting up and walking towards him.  
  
"Yeah," Sean muttered, clutching his foot.  
  
"I'm not convinced. Here, let me take a look at that."  
  
"Don't worry about it," Sean said. "Considering what I've been through, I think I can take care of an ankle sprain. Though you could help me up." Kitsune helped him get up and balance on his one good foot. "Thanks. I can take it from here." He waved his hand and a crutch appeared in it.  
  
"Hey, Sean," Kitsune said as Sean started to hobble his way inside. "Why don't you just teleport in?"  
  
"You think I haven't thought of that?" Sean asked, looking up at the roof. "That battle I just had left me a bit drained, and I want to make sure I still have enough left to take care of my foot."  
  
"Makes sense, I guess," Kitsune said. "See you at breakfast." She watched him wave back at her and make his way inside before getting back into the water. "Finally," she said to herself. "No more boring mornings."  
  
---  
  
With some difficulty, Sean made it back to his room. "Oh man," he thought. "I wouldn't want to do that again." This thought was provoked by recalling his grueling trip up the stairs. "If every day's going to be like this, I don't know how long I'm going to last. If Suu had those planes in the works, who knows what else she might throw against me. Then there's the whole bazooka thing; how did they get a hold of one of those?"  
  
"What were you thinking?!" Sarah yelled, taking Sean by surprise. "Why did you destroy Suu's tanks?!"  
  
"Oh, I don't know," Sean said, his words dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe it was my will to survive kicking in or something. I guess I really should stop being so self-centered, huh?"  
  
That set Sarah off. With a roar, she gave Sean a spear that would make Edge green with envy. "Suu's locked in her room right now, mourning over the loss of her toys! She won't even talk to me! ME! And it's ALL YOUR FAULT!!" She repeatedly slammed Sean's head against the floor. "You need to gAAK!" Before she could finish, a hand grabbed her by the throat.  
  
"I need to what?" Sean asked, getting up, Sarah still in his grip. "Tell me; what do I need to do?"  
  
Sarah was at a loss for words, mostly because she was having a difficult time breathing, coupled with her gaze fixed on Sean's eyes, which were glowing red. "What's going on?!" She started to panic until her salvation arrived.  
  
"Hey, Sean, what's with this strange energy I'm--" Motoko's eyes grew wide as she saw a red-eyed Sean sneering at Sarah, whose legs were dangling a foot above the ground. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO SARAH?!"  
  
Suddenly, a shudder ran through Sean's body, his eyes returning to normal, and fully realizing what he was doing. He let go of Sarah's neck, who ran out of the room without a moment's hesitation. "Why?" he found himself asking, his legs giving out as the pain from his injury came back to him. "Why did this have to happen?"  
  
Motoko, who was moments away from drawing her sword, found herself pitying Sean's current situation. She had seen Sean's… altered state of mind before, and she knew the last thing he wanted was to relive that experience. "Sean?" she asked, slowly approaching him. "Are you alright?" She got no response. "Sean, why were you acting that way?"  
  
"Thank God you showed up when you did," Sean finally said, his voice starting to crack. "If you didn't, I could've… I could've…"  
  
"Everything's going to be alright, Sean."  
  
"Is it? Sarah hated me enough before all this, but now…"  
  
"Breakfast's ready!" Shinobu called out from downstairs.  
  
"Come on," Motoko said. "Let's go eat."  
  
Sean quickly shook his head. "I don't think going down there would be a good idea, especially if Suu and Sarah are there."  
  
"But you have to eat something."  
  
"I'm sure Shinobu will bring something up for me."  
  
"But Sean--"  
  
"Go. I think some time alone would do me some good anyway."  
  
After a long silence, Motoko sighed. "Alright." She started to leave the room, but stopped in the doorway. "But I expect a full explanation; if not from you, than from Sarah."  
  
"Talk to her, then," Sean muttered. "I have no intentions of leaving this room until I have fully recovered; both from my injuries and from what you have just witnessed." After Motoko left the room, Sean let out a sigh. "After all this time--I have to keep that from happening again at all costs; and I can think of only one sure-fire way to do that…"  
  
---  
  
Motoko shook her head as she made her way to the dining room. "Why can't things ever be normal around here?" she asked herself. "Something weird is always going on. If it isn't one thing it's another." When she got to her destination, she found almost everyone else already there; only Sean and Suu (which came as a shock to her) were missing. "Hello everyone," she said. "Uh., where's Suu?"  
  
"She's locked up in her room," Sarah said, her arms crossed.  
  
"Have you seen Sean?" Shinobu asked. She heard the rooftop battle, but didn't know the outcome.  
  
"Yeah, he's in his room; he won't be joining us this morning."  
  
"Good!" Sarah said. "I can't stand that freak! Him and his glowing red eyes--"  
  
"Wait," Shinobu said. "What was that?"  
  
"I said, 'glowing red eyes!' What's not to understand?"  
  
Looks of fear appeared around the table. "You're kidding, right?" Naru asked.  
  
"This can't be happening," Shinobu said, tears starting to form in her eyes. "It just can't be."  
  
"It is," Motoko said. "I saw it with my own eyes. I'm afraid our greatest fear has arisen once again."  
  
"You mean that's happened before?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yes," Naru said. "When his eyes turn red, he begins to lose all sense of himself. There's no telling what he's capable of when he like that."  
  
"Do you know what causes this?"  
  
"Well, the first time, it was because I hit him one too many times. The second time, it was because we were directly threatened; in fact, that was the day before you showed up."  
  
"Huh," Keitaro said, a thoughtful look on her face.  
  
"I wonder what caused it this time," Motoko said, glaring at Sarah.  
  
"What makes you think it was something I did?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Can you prove otherwise?"  
  
"Alright, I was kind of beating up on him when it happened, but I had good reason to do it! The reason why Suu's in her room and not out here is because Sean destroyed her tanks while we were up on the roof earlier. She's been brooding over it ever since. I couldn't just watch her act like that; I had to do something!"  
  
"And attacking Sean was the best thing you could come up with?!" Shinobu asked, fear turning into anger. "What's wrong with you?"  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said, taking Shinobu's side. "He was already injured from your battle! You just had to push him over the edge, didn't you?!"  
  
"It's not like his eyes are still red or anything. After Motoko came in, he went back to normal."  
  
"That may be true," Motoko said. "But he's deathly afraid of what he might have done had I not intervened. Even after what you and Suu did to him, hurting you is the last thing he wants to do."  
  
"Jeez, what a wimp."  
  
"Hey," Kitsune said. "Who else could go up against tanks, planes and a rocket launcher and end up with only a sprained ankle?"  
  
"Hey." Everyone turned to see Suu walk in and take her seat.  
  
"About time you got here," Sarah said. "You finally done mourning?"  
  
"Yeah. I guess I just overreacted; just now, I realized I could make more tanks whenever I want. Where's Sean?"  
  
"In his room," Motoko said. "Recovering from his wounds--both physical and otherwise."  
  
Suu was confused by this. "What?"  
  
"His eyes turned red again," Shinobu said.  
  
"They what?!"  
  
"Don't worry," Motoko said. "It didn't last long."  
  
"Long enough for him to try to choke the life out of me," Sarah muttered.  
  
"Why did he do that?" Suu asked.  
  
"I was beating him up for what he did to you."  
  
"Oh man," Suu said. "I should go apologize for that." She quickly ate her breakfast. "I'll go take some food up to him." She grabbed Sean's food and rushed upstairs.  
  
"Who do you think's going to happen when she gets there?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"As long as he doesn't try to hurt me, I don't care what he does," Sarah said.  
  
A minute went by and Suu returned, still with Sean's food. "Well, that was quick," Kitsune said. "Did he refuse to talk to you?"  
  
"He's asleep," Suu said, taking the food to the kitchen.  
  
"He must have overexerted himself this morning," Motoko said. "Let's let him rest. We can always talk to him after he wakes up. Besides, he'll have to eat eventually."  
  
---  
  
As minutes became hours with Sean still taking a nap in his room, everyone decided to return to their normal routines, waiting for their landlord to wake up. It took quite a while, but their patience was finally rewarded… sort of.  
  
--- 3:11 PM  
  
Naru, Shinobu and Kitsune were watching television in the living room when Sean appeared. "Sean, you're awake!"  
  
"Yeah," he said, still a little groggy.  
  
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.  
  
"The kitchen to get something to eat."  
  
"I've got something in there already prepared for you," Shinobu said.  
  
"Thanks." Sean walked out for a minute, then returned with some food, walking back the way he came."  
  
"Um, you want to talk about what happened this morning?"  
  
"I just want to forget about that whole thing, alright? Now, there's something I need to go work on up in my room, and I don't want to be disturbed." He left the room before the others could respond.  
  
"I wonder what he could be working on," Kitsune said.  
  
"Knowing him, it would take quite a bit of energy," Naru said. "That would further explain why he took a nap so early in the day."  
  
"I hope he doesn't spend all day up there," Shinobu said.  
  
Actually, Sean would spend the whole day stuck in his room, but the others would find out that he wasn't doing what he would usually be doing. From Motoko's analysis, there was no magical goings on in his room; whatever he was doing, he was doing it using a mundane means. Everyone eventually started pressuring Shinobu to use X-ray vision to see what was going on, but she would flat out refuse, as she respected his privacy, but that didn't stop her from wondering what the hell was going on. As day turned into night, they figured that they would find out everything sooner or later, at Sean's discretion; and that's just what happened.  
  
--- Tuesday, 6/3 12:04 AM  
  
Motoko suddenly woke up from her slumber. "Oh no," she thought, realizing what had disturbed her sleep. "I can't be." According to her senses, Sean was up on the roof, and whatever he was doing, it took a lot of energy to accomplish. She quickly got out of bed and rushed to the roof, but before she got there, the immense energy she was following vanished. Fearing the worst, she went upstairs as fast as her legs could carry her. When she got there, Sean was nowhere to be seen. "What's going on here?!" she thought. "Am I losing my mind?!" She snatched a piece of paper that happened to flutter across her field of vision. As she read it, her eyes grew wide. "No… this can't be real." But it was, and it was something she could never have foreseen…  
  
End of Chapter XLII   
  
I know, this one has some similarities to Day of Darkness; that's what I was going for. I'm sure you're wondering what I did, but you won't find out from me until next chapter. See you then! 


	45. Ch43: Case of the Missing Landlord

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
I love writing cliffhangers; I really do.  
  
Chapter XLIII: Case of the Missing Landlord   
  
Tuesday, 6/3 7:00 AM  
  
"Good morning, everyone!" Shinobu said cheerfully as she served breakfast. As she glanced around the table, she noticed that, yet again, not everyone was present. "Is Sean still working in his room?" she asked.  
  
"Maybe," Kitsune said. "Apparently, he was working pretty hard in his room. He's probably just sleeping in or something."  
  
"No." Everyone turned to see Motoko enter the room. From her appearance, it looked like a good night's sleep was too much to hope for; and that she had been crying for most of the night.  
  
"What do you mean?" Naru asked. "Do you know where he's at?"  
  
"Here, read this." She said, tossing a sheet of paper onto the table. "He left it out on the roof last night." Unable to control her emotions any longer, she ran out of the room, new tears trailing behind her.  
  
"Whoa," Kitsune said, watching Motoko run off. "This must be more serious than we think if it got her that broken up about it." She looked at the letter she left behind. "Let's see what we're up against here." She grabbed the paper and began reading it. "Oh no," she thought after a while. "This isn't good."  
  
"What's wrong, Kitsune?" Shinobu asked, seeing her distressed expression. "What does it say?"  
  
Kitsune shook her head. "You don't want to know."  
  
"I can take it. Let me see that."  
  
"Alright," Kitsune said with a sigh. "But don't say I didn't warn you." Shinobu took the letter from her and read the contents aloud:  
  
Dear everyone:  
  
I'm sure you're all wondering why I'm not here this morning. (No doubt Motoko found this last night.) It pains me to have to do this, but I feel there is no other alternative. My actions against Sarah, no matter how provoked they may have been, were unforgivable. The last thing I want is to see any of you hurt, especially by my own hands, but I fear that if I were to suffer the wrath of Suu and Sarah throughout the whole summer, that outcome will be inevitable. Therefore, I feel that to avoid going completely insane from it all, I must take a leave of absence from Hinata-Sou. I will not tell you where I have gone, nor will I let you know when I'll return. In all honesty, I'm not sure exactly when I'll be back; could be a week, could be a month, could be until school starts in the fall, I can't be sure.  
  
Before you get the wrong idea, I just want to tell you that I hated this idea as much as you do, if not more, and I know what you're thinking: "Why didn't you tell us?" Well, if I had, you--or at least Shinobu--would try to stop me by any means necessary. Don't think my sudden departure means that I don't want to be around you anymore; that couldn't be farther from the truth. I enjoy the time I spend with you, and I would like nothing more than to stay, but as your landlord, I have an obligation to keep you all safe, even from myself. Please, don't come looking for me.  
  
See you soon,  
  
Sean  
  
"I told you you didn't want to know," Kitsune said, feeling sympathetic for the young girl.  
  
"He's gone," Shinobu whispered. "He's really gone." She tried as hard as she could to keep her tears on the inside. When she couldn't stand it any longer, she exploded--right in Suu's face. "It's all your fault!" She screamed as she tackled Suu; her angry tone shocking everyone in the room. "You just had to keep using your tanks against him, didn't you?!" Suu tried to respond, but couldn't, due to Shinobu's hands wrapped around her throat.  
  
"Shinobu!" Naru yelled, prying Shinobu off Suu. "Calm down!"  
  
"You're right," Shinobu said. "Suu's not my real target. If Sarah hadn't attacked him like she did, this never would have happened and Sean'd still be here!" She struggled against Naru's grip on her. "Let me go! I want to go kick her ass!"  
  
"Shinobu, cool it!" Kitsune said, giving her a good slap in the face. "You really think more violence will make everything alright?!"  
  
"I…I…" Shinobu finally broke down, tears steaming down her face. She turned around and buried her face in Naru's chest. "I'm so sorry! I don't know what came over me!"  
  
"Are you going to be alright, Suu?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah, but Shinobu, could you do me one favor?" Suu said. "Please avoid the sudden bursts of violence, please? I really doesn't suit your personality."  
  
Shinobu forced herself to smile as she slowly nodded her head. "There you go," Kitsune said. "That's the Shinobu we all know. Don't you worry; we've been through a lot worse than this, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, (sniff) I know." Shinobu calmed down some as she sat back down at the table. "Uh, Suu?"  
  
"Yeah?" Suu was still a bit wary of what she might do.  
  
"Could I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Why have you been attacking Sean like you have?"  
  
Suu's eyes grew a little. "You mean I never told any of you? Huh, it must have slipped my mind. I know it looked like I was just having fun at his expense, but what I was really doing was, in my own way, giving Sean a magical workout."  
  
"A what?" Shinobu asked, somewhat confused by Suu's answer.  
  
"After we found out that he could use magic and what he was capable of, I wanted to help him increase his ability to protect us--just in case."  
  
"By trying to blow him up?!"  
  
"Can you think of a better way?"  
  
"Uh, not really. Does he know about this?"  
  
Suu shook her head. "No. As far as he knows, this is just my way of 'playing' with him. I never even told Sarah about this."  
  
"Then why did you freak out when he blew up your tanks yesterday?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I never expected him to go on the offensive. I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later."  
  
Shinobu nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "What's on your mind?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'm just wondering if Sean's alright, wherever he is."  
  
"I'm sure he's fine," Naru said. "Come to think of it, I think a vacation is just what the doctor ordered."  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"It's been almost a full year since we first met him. Since then, he's worked almost nonstop to make sure we were all healthy and happy, sometimes at the expense of his own health. He's put with a lot more than a man should, and we all know it. I'm actually a bit surprised he's lasted this long before needing some time to himself."  
  
Shinobu sank a tad lower in her seat. "He should have told us about all this in person instead of leaving a note behind for us to find. He should have let us know something was wrong. He should have… taken me with him." That got some weird looks from around the table. "What? I am his girlfriend, aren't I?"  
  
"And what did you plan on doing with him while you were gone?" Naru asked suspiciously.  
  
"Are you questioning my intentions?" Shinobu shot back.  
  
"I'm just saying that with you and him alone in some secluded locale, things might start happening."  
  
"Yeah, so what?"  
  
"'So what'?! Am I the only one looking out for your best interest?!"  
  
"And who are you to say what my best interests are?! Besides, after a year of false accusations, you should know better than to label him as a pedophile at every little thing! You know as well as I do that he's never one to make the first move when it come to things like that anyway!"  
  
"From this little exchange, I'm pretty sure I know why Sean went by himself," Kitsune said. "He wanted to avoid getting torn to bits by Naru or Motoko."  
  
"Speaking of which," Naru said, calming down. "Where did Motoko go?"  
  
"She must be taking this whole thing a lot harder than the rest of us," Shinobu said. "I'll go find her after breakfast." After she finished breakfast, Shinobu took some food up to Motoko's room, where she hoped to find the troubled swordswoman. "Motoko?" She said as she opened the door. "Are you in here?" Hearing sniveling, she went out onto the balcony and saw Motoko sitting in the far corner, her knees pressed up against her chest. "What's wrong, Motoko?"  
  
"I should have done something to help," Motoko murmured, apparently unaware of Shinobu's presence. "I should have been able to prevent all this from happening."  
  
"Motoko…" Shinobu realized Motoko was worse off than she could have ever thought. She sat down next to her and wrapped an arm around her in a comforting fashion.  
  
As soon as contact was made, Motoko snapped. "I'm so sorry!"  
  
Shinobu found it hard to respond, as Motoko was hugging her tightly, squeezing the air from her lungs. "You have--nothing to be--sorry for," she managed to say. She forced herself out of Motoko's embrace before continuing. "None of us could have seen this coming, so don't put any of the blame, much less all of it, on yourself!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Motoko said, calming down. "It's just that this looks so similar to when Sean lost his magic. I felt so… so worthless."  
  
"Motoko, everything's going to be fine. We'll get through this like we've gotten through everything else. It's not like he left for good, right?"  
  
"You're right," Motoko said, cheering up some. "We should just look forward to his return."  
  
"That's the spirit! Now, eat your breakfast; I can't have you starving to death now, can I?" Shinobu and Motoko shared a giggle and Motoko began eating the food Shinobu brought with her. "If it helps any," Shinobu said after a while. "I think you took the news a bit better than I did."  
  
"What did you do?" Motoko asked after swallowing.  
  
"At first, I was sad like you, but…" Even though she brought it up, she was reluctant to continue.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I attacked Suu." Motoko was speechless. "I know, I'm surprised at myself for doing that, but along with Sarah, she was the one who caused all this to happen, and for that brief moment, I hated them for that with all my heart."  
  
"I suppose I'd react that way as well if she was trying to blow up my boyfriend."  
  
"Why am I not surprised?"  
  
---  
  
The morning was about as close to usual as possible, with everyone coming to terms with Sean's departure in their own way. When lunchtime came around, they decided they should figure out what their next course of action should be; and that's when Kitsune brought up her big plan…  
  
--- 12:07 PM  
  
"Alright," Shinobu said. "I think we should all pitch in, splitting the chores up among us until Sean returns, what do you think?"  
  
"Sounds reasonable," Keitaro said. He remembered how, last time Sean left, he and Shinobu were put in charge.  
  
"Yeah, we want Sean to be impressed with what he sees when he gets back."  
  
"I've got a better idea," Kitsune said, her usual smile on her face.  
  
"And what might that be?" Naru asked skeptically.  
  
"Well, I talked it over with Suu this morning, and we agreed that we can't just stand around and just let our landlord slip through our fingers like this. I say we go find him and bring him back ourselves!"  
  
"That's crazy!" Motoko said. "We have no idea where to start looking! Besides, didn't his letter precisely say NOT to look for him?"  
  
"He only wrote that letter because he didn't have the guts to tell us to our faces! We ought to show him that he can't go sneak off somewhere without the risk of being followed!"  
  
"No," Shinobu said. "He said he'll come back, and I believe him."  
  
"That may be true, but just how long are you willing to wait? Last time, he was only gone for a couple weeks, including the time he was here as a girl. For all we know, he could be gone for a month, two months or more! Can you last that long without him?"  
  
That was a difficult question for Shinobu to answer. "Um, well…"  
  
"Kitsune will you stop bugging the poor girl?!" Naru asked.  
  
"No," Shinobu said. "She has a point. I love him; and I don't think I could stand to be away from him for months at a time. I'm in."  
  
"Anyone else?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Well, even with Shinobu going with you, I can't trust you two alone for a second," Naru said. "I'm coming along just to keep you in line."  
  
"If Naru's in, than I'm in too!" Keitaro said.  
  
"I would like nothing more than to see Sean again," Motoko said. "But who's going to take care of this place while we're gone?"  
  
"I could always ask Aunt Haruka to do it," Keitaro said.  
  
"Then it's settled," Kitsune said. "Sean, wherever you are we'll find you!"  
  
---  
  
Sean felt a twitch in the back of his mind, but quickly passed it off as nothing. "It's probably just my paranoia acting up again," he thought.  
  
---  
  
"Are you sure we should be looking through his room?" Shinobu asked as the whole group headed for that very place.  
  
"Think about it," Kitsune said. "How else will we find out where he went?"  
  
"I just think it's a bit underhanded, that's all."  
  
"And you think the way he left wasn't? He should have known we'd do this."  
  
"I still feel a bit guilty about rummaging through his room," Shinobu thought.  
  
"Um, guys?" Suu said when they reach their destination. They turned around to find a thoughtful expression on her face. "If you don't mind, I've got an idea for something that might help us out, so I'll be in my room."  
  
"That's fine," Naru said.  
  
"Motoko, could you help me?"  
  
"Sure," Motoko said. "What do you need my help for?"  
  
"You'll see." Suu and a curious Motoko headed for the foreigner's room, leaving the others to search through Sean's.  
  
"Alright," Kitsune said, walking into the room. "Where should we start?" Her gaze fell on the video vault. "Hmm, I wonder…" She headed back to the door.  
  
"Where are you going?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'm going to get something real quick." Kitsune rushed out of Sean's room and into her own. A quick survey revealed what she was looking for. "I knew this thing would come in handy," she thought, grabbing the remote for the vault and returning the way she came.  
  
"What's that?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Watch." Kitsune pointed the remote at the vault, pressed the button and the door vanished, surprising everyone else in the room.  
  
"Wow," Keitaro said.  
  
"Okay," Kitsune muttered, walking in the vault. "Let's see if it's here…" The others looked on curiously as she scanned the shelves until she found what she was looking for. "Here we go," she said triumphantly. "Yesterday's video. This should let us know where he went off to."  
  
"Is there a video for every day?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah. He never told you?"  
  
Shinobu shook her head. "I wonder why not."  
  
"Maybe he's afraid of what you might see," Naru said.  
  
"That or maybe he just forgot and you never brought it up," Kitsune said. "Now, let's see what we can get from this thing." Kitsune put the disc in the laptop (which Sean left behind) and fast forwarded it to evening.  
  
--- Monday, 6/2 8:51 PM  
  
Sean was going through his closet, picking out some clothes for his trip. "I can't believe I'm actually doing this." he said. "I think this is the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I hate to leave them like this, but I can't let them know that I'm going--"  
  
---  
  
It was at that moment that the video cut to static. "Damn it," Kitsune said. "What's wrong with this thing?" Much to everyone's surprise, rising laughter could be heard from the computer.  
  
"Nice try," Sean's voice said. "But you'll have to try harder than that if you want to catch me." The laughing continued until the video faded to black.  
  
"Looks like he knew we'd do this, Kitsune," Naru said.  
  
"You think?" Kitsune said, ejecting the disc and returning it to it's place in the vault. "This is only going to make me more determined. He'll regret the day he tries to outsmart me!"  
  
"I think we'll all regret that," Keitaro said, getting a laugh from Shinobu and Naru.  
  
"Search this place from top to bottom!" Kitsune ordered. "Leave no stone unturned! Sean must have left some clues somewhere, and we're going to find them!"  
  
--- 2:12 PM  
  
"I'm back!" Suu said, returning to Sean's room. She's quickly shocked by the sight before her. "What have you done to Sean's room?!" She could have sworn she heard Kitsune growling as she continued to search through the room, which already looked like it was hit by a tornado.  
  
"You don't want to know," Naru said.  
  
"Why don't you try to stop her?"  
  
"We've tried almost everything," Shinobu said. "Except…" She walked up to Kitsune from behind. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this," she thought.  
  
Kitsune suddenly noticed Shinobu place her hands against the sides of her head. "What are you doing?"  
  
"This has gone too far, Kitsune. You have to stop."  
  
Kitsune screamed as felt pain shoot through her skull. "No! I have to keep looking! I have to… find… Sean…" Kitsune suddenly fell forward, unconscious.  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "But she won't be doing anything for a while." She turned to Suu. "Did you finish what you were working on?"  
  
That reminded Suu of why she went there in the first place. "Oh yeah, I did." She looked down the hallway. "Come on, Motoko show them what I made."  
  
Motoko was a few feet from the door. She wasn't exactly sure what had just happened in Sean's room, and for some reason, she didn't want to know. "Do I have to?" she asked.  
  
"Well, if you won't show them yourself, I'll just have them come out here and see." Suu motioned for everyone to come out into the hallway.  
  
"Oh my," Naru said, barely able to keep from laughing. "What's that on your head?"  
  
"Oh, shut up," Motoko said, obviously not happy with what was going on. "Do I have to wear this stupid thing? This is humiliating!"  
  
"You agreed to help me, Motoko, remember? Besides, you need to wear that for it to work."  
  
"Does it have to be me?"  
  
"I'm afraid so." Motoko just muttered something to herself.  
  
"Um, Suu?" Keitaro asked, eyeing the odd contraption on Motoko's head. "What is that, anyway?"  
  
"My latest invention," Suu said, obviously proud of her accomplishment. "We all know that Motoko could sense Sean's energy from a mile away, right? Well, using this device, her range will be expanded."  
  
"How far will it go?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Think of it this way: If he's anywhere on this planet, we'll know."  
  
"That's great!"  
  
"Well, it's not perfect. With the time I was given, this will only determine how far away he is, not give an absolute location or direction, but it better than nothing, right?"  
  
"Well, start it up already," Naru said.  
  
"I'd be glad to." Suu walked over to Motoko and flipped a switch on the odd machine attached to her head, causing her to flinch. "Don't worry, the discomfort will only last for a moment."  
  
"Thank the gods for that," Motoko thought.  
  
"Let's see…" Suu said, looking at the digital readout, waiting for a figure to appear. "Ah, according to this, Sean's roughly 11,300 Km away from us right now."  
  
"That's a long ways away," Naru noted.  
  
"Knowing how far away he is will certainly narrow down the search," Shinobu said.  
  
"Do I still have to wear this thing?" Motoko said.  
  
---  
  
After Kitsune woke up and everyone explained the situation to her, they all reconvened in the dining room. "Okay," Kitsune said, examining the map that was spread out on the table; a circle had been drawn on it. "We know that he's somewhere in this ring; we just have to figure out where."  
  
"Hmm," Shinobu muttered, tracing her eyes around the ring until she hit a certain spot, and something clicked in her head. "That's it!"  
  
"What?" Naru said.  
  
"I know where he's at."  
  
"Well, don't keep us in suspense, girl," Kitsune said. "Tell us!"  
  
"Right here," Shinobu pointed to where the ring passed through the eastern edge of South Carolina.  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"A while back, Sean took me on a little trip…"  
  
--- Flashback (Date is irrelevant)  
  
"Wow, this is amazing," Shinobu said, looking in awe at the earth below.  
  
"I know," Sean said. "This is what I saw back on your birthday, and I knew I had to bring you up here one of these days."  
  
"I never thought I'd ever see a sight like this in person. Thank you, Sean."  
  
"My pleasure. Hey, look right there."  
  
"Hmm?" Shinobu saw him point to the southeastern U.S. "What about it?"  
  
"That's where I'm from."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Yup. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; that's where I lived before I met you all."  
  
"Wow, you really traveled a long way to get to Hinata-Sou."  
  
"Tell me about it."  
  
--- End flashback  
  
"Take a close look right there," Shinobu said, her finger still on the map. Everyone leaned close to find that the ring passed right through Myrtle Beach.  
  
"Nice going, Shinobu!" Kitsune said. "I think you really pinpointed his position!"  
  
"It would certainly make sense," Naru added. "He must have felt somewhat homesick after all the this time."  
  
"It's settled, then," Kitsune said. "We have a destination. What do you say we gat packed and ready to go?"  
  
"YEAH!" Everyone cheered, then rushed off to their rooms to get ready.  
  
--- 3:51 PM  
  
Keitaro waited in the living room, all alone, looking at his watch. He had been ready for the last hour and a half, and it appeared he was the only one. "Geez," he thought out loud. "How long is it going to take for them to pack?"  
  
"I'm so sorry," Naru said as she came down the stairs, suitcases in hand. Shinobu was right behind her. "Unlike you, us girls actually have to make important choices when it comes to clothes for a trip, especially when a beach is involved."  
  
"I understand," Keitaro said.  
  
"What are you smiling like that for?" Naru asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Oh, nothing." Actually, his curiosity had been piqued in regard to what Naru had picked out, especially if they should happen to head for the beach.  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"YAY!" Suu yelled as she bounded down the steps. "Vacation time!"  
  
"Well," Shinobu said. "The only ones left are Motoko and Kitsune."  
  
"Kitsune I can understand, but Motoko?" Keitaro said. "That I find hard to believe."  
  
"Yeah," Naru added. "I've never known her to take long to pick out clothes for much of anything in the past; why now?"  
  
"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Hearing Motoko's voice focused everyone's attention upstairs, where she and Kitsune made their appearance.  
  
"You gotta learn to trust me," Kitsune said. "Everything will work out fine."  
  
"Keep in mind that I'm agreeing to this under protest."  
  
"What's up?" Naru asked.  
  
"Kitsune was… helping me pack," Motoko said.  
  
"Ah."  
  
"Are you two ready?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yep!" Kitsune said. "Let's get this show on the road!" She walked down the stairs, Motoko followed with somewhat less enthusiasm.  
  
"How are we going to get there, anyway?" Naru wondered.  
  
"The same way Sean did," Shinobu responded. "I'll get us there myself."  
  
"Are you sure you can do this?" Keitaro asked. "You've never traveled such a long distance like this before."  
  
"Don't worry about me, I can take it, but we must do something before we go."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
"Learn English."  
  
"Won't that take too long?" Kitsune said.  
  
"Remember how Sean learned Japanese? We'll learn English the same way. Gather around." Everyone went up to Shinobu and placed a hand on her shoulder. "This will only take a moment." A strange humming sound came from the young sorceress, and a tingly sensation went up everybody's arms, into their heads. About as soon as it began, it ended, leaving everyone but Shinobu confused as to what exactly happened. "There," Shinobu said. "Ready to go?"  
  
"As we'll ever be," Kitsune said.  
  
"Let's do this, then." Shinobu rubbed her hands together and spread them out, beginning a chant in the process.  
  
"Next stop, Myrtle Beach," Kitsune said as Shinobu became surrounded by a sphere of pure white energy.  
  
"And Sean," Suu added as the orb slowly grew in size. As soon as every passenger was engulfed, it quickly shrank to the size of a basketball and flew out the nearest exit and into the eastern skies, taking the Hinata crew with it.  
  
---  
  
After a trip that would have taken many hours to complete by plane, but only took about 30 minutes, the glowing ball finally came to a stop, grew, then faded away, revealing the gang inside. "Holy cow," Kitsune said. "That was some ride."  
  
"You said it," Naru said. She, along with everyone else, suddenly realized that it was dark outside, illuminated by a half-moon overhead. "Is it nighttime already? It didn't take that long, did it?"  
  
"Hold on just a sec," Suu said, fiddling with her high-tech watch for a few moments. "Just as I thought."  
  
"What's wrong?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"We forgot to factor in the time difference. The local time is 2:26, Tuesday morning. We just got an extra 14 hours."  
  
"That explains why Sean left so late," Motoko said.  
  
"And why he took a nap during the day," Naru added. "He wanted to eliminate the risk of jet lag."  
  
"Which is more than could be said for us, huh Shinobu?" Kitsune said. "Uh, Shinobu?" In the dim light, they could barely see the blue-haired girl lying face down among them. Right away, Naru was at her side, making sure she was still breathing.  
  
"Is she alright?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Naru said with a sigh of relief. "She just exhausted herself, that's all."  
  
"I honestly think she has the right idea," Kitsune said. "We won't be able to do much until daybreak. I say we get a bit of sleep, get our bearings and we'll go from there."  
  
"For a change, I agree with one of your ideas right away," Motoko said.  
  
"Ugh, what happened?" Shinobu asked, slowly opening her eyes.  
  
"You overexerted yourself," Naru said.  
  
"Did we make it?"  
  
"Yes, we did. For now though, just get some rest." Shinobu nodded, closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep. One by one, they all joined her until only Motoko was left awake.  
  
"I hope we don't regret this," she thought. Not feeling tired at the moment, she decided to take in as much of her surroundings as the light permitted. She could tell right away that they have been standing on grass this whole time, and open further observation, she saw that they were in an open field. She wasn't able to see exactly was lay beyond, but there was what appeared to be a street light in either direction. This led her to believe that there was a road nearby. Satisfied that there was nothing threatening in the area, she allowed herself to drift away into slumber.  
  
--- 10:14 AM  
  
"Miss?"  
  
Motoko mumbled something incoherently, obviously still asleep.  
  
"Miss?" the voice was more insistent this time.  
  
"What is it?" Motoko asked, upset that she was woken up like she was. She looked up to see who the culprit was… and she didn't recognize him. At first glance, she noticed that he was a cop. "Oh no," she thought. To her, this was the worst thing that could happen.  
  
"Could you explain why you and your friends are in someone's front yard?" the officer politely asked.  
  
"What?" Motoko got up and looked around. Sure enough, there was a small house a ways off, and that they had camped out in their rather spacious front yard. "I apologize," she quickly said, not realizing she was speaking fluent English. "It was already dark when we got here, and it seemed a good a place as any to spend the night. We didn't know there was a house there."  
  
"Do you have a place to go?" he asked.  
  
"We're not homeless," Motoko quickly said, making sure not to reveal exactly how they got there. "We're just trying to find someone right now."  
  
"Alright, but in the future, I strongly advise you at least get a motel room or something, especially since a couple of he people in your group are so young."  
  
"Yes, sir." The man was about to leave when a thought occurred to her. "Excuse me."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Is there a place to eat nearby?"  
  
"Sure." He pointed down the road. "Just go down that road and take a right. There are a few fast food places down that way."  
  
The cop's explanation allowed Motoko to get a good look at him. He was about six and a half feet tall, and from what she could see, he was very athletic. To put it simply, she was attracted to him. Despite this little distraction, she was still able to pay attention to his directions. "Thank you," she said, trying her best to keep her face from turning red.  
  
"No problem. Enjoy your visit to Myrtle Beach and I hope you find who you're looking for."  
  
All Motoko could do was nod as the cop walked over to where his motorcycle was parked and started to drive away. The only thing that could tear her eyes away from him was the sound of Kitsune yawning.  
  
"Who was that?" Kitsune half-yawned. She heard the whole thing, but until know, she wasn't sure whether it was real or just some dream she was having.  
  
"Um, well…" Motoko was reluctant to say it, and for more than one reason. "It was a police officer."  
  
That woke Kitsune up. "A cop?!"  
  
"Don't worry, we're not in trouble or anything, but I think we should go before somebody else shows up."  
  
"Good idea," Kitsune said. "Rise and shine, everyone!" she yelled.  
  
Everyone got up, changed (with Shinobu placing a veil of invisibility around them, just in case) and went on their way, following the officer's instructions, they reached a major highway.  
  
"I'm getting hungry," Suu whined.  
  
"We all are," Kitsune said. "Don't worry, if we keep following this road, we're bound to find a place to eat sooner or later. Did anyone remember to bring money?"  
  
"I did," Keitaro said. "But somehow, I don't think these places will take yen."  
  
"I guess we'll have to rely on my credit cards for the time being," Kitsune said.  
  
As they continued to walk down the highway, Motoko couldn't stop thinking about the cop she met that morning. "Why am I thinking like this?" she thought. "I'm starting to think like Kitsune would. I don't even know the guy's name, for crying out loud! I really shouldn't concern myself with such things."  
  
"Is everything alright?" Naru asked, noticing Motoko's distracted expression.  
  
"Yeah, I just have a lot on my mind right now," she said. Even though this was the truth, she didn't want to say that she might have the hots for a guy she just met.  
  
After about ten minutes of walking, they happened on a couple fast food places. They were about to enter one when Motoko felt a familiar twitch in her mind; and she found it somewhat hard to believe at first. "No way," she said.  
  
"What's up?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"It's Sean; he's close."  
  
"What?!" Kitsune said. "Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's go!"  
  
"But I'm so hungry!" Suu whined.  
  
"We'll get something to eat later," Kitsune said. "We may not get another chance like this to find Sean!" With Motoko leading the way, they ran off in the direction her mind told her to go; and it led her to another fast food restaurant.  
  
"Arby's, huh?" Naru said, reading the sign. "Are you sure he's in there?"  
  
"Positive," Motoko said.  
  
By the time they got to the door, they had already caught sight of their target. He was at the counter, talking to one of the ladies working there; it looked like they knew each other pretty well…  
  
End of Chapter XLIII   
  
It seems that as soon as I answer some questions, more pop up, doesn't it? Who's the woman I'm talking to and how do I already know her? These and more will be answered in the coming chapters. See you then! Please R&R! Love live the cliffhanger! 


	46. Ch44: Busman's Holiday

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Notice: This chapter is based on actual people. The names have not been changed. The people involved are aware of this.  
  
XLIV: Busman's Holiday   
  
Tuesday, 6/3 8:12 AM  
  
When Alicia woke up that morning, it took her a little while to realize that she was in a hotel room as opposed to her room back at Hinata-Sou. She sighed happily as she struggled to decide whether or not to go back to sleep. "It's been a long time since I slept in an real bed," she thought. "I'll have to make some… alterations when I get back." She smiled as she envisioned her futon going up in flames.  
  
Alicia's happy mood would quickly fade as thoughts of back home entered her mind. She was beginning to regret her hasty actions and considered going back, but quickly shook her head of the notion. "I can't go back," she thought out loud. "At least not yet. If I return now, who knows what they might think of me. (Sigh) Even though I need this time alone, I already miss the girls' smiling faces. Oh well; the time will fly by and I'll be seeing them again soon enough." She got out of bed, changed genders and got ready for the day ahead, completely unaware of the premonition he had just made.  
  
"I wonder what I should do first," he thought as he went into the elevator. He had arrived in Myrtle Beach the previous morning, but spent most of the day relaxing in his hotel room watching television; he had come to miss good old American TV, especially Comedy Central and Cartoon Network. The other reason for wasting the day was the fact that his journey left him drained. "I guess I should pay a visit to some old friends first. I just hope I still remember where they live; provided they still live there, of course."  
  
The elevator stopped at the ground floor and Sean went to get some breakfast when a thought hit him. "Hey, I could go to Arby's. I bet they'd be glad to see me again." He decided to have a light breakfast and head out there early, knowing that the place opened around ten. "I've still got some time to kill," he thought, glancing at his watch as he walked out into the world. "Let's see what's changed around here." He found a secluded spot away from prying eyes, turned invisible, lifted up off the ground and flew off, following the road about 20 feet up.  
  
"Huh," he muttered after a while. "Looks like everything's the same." He happened to pass by a Wal-Mart. "Hmm, I wonder…" He landed, turned visible and walked inside, quickly making his way to the craft department in the back, obviously searching for someone, who he eventually found at a counter helping out some customers. "Yep, she's still here. Time to give her a big surprise." He sneaked around behind the woman and when she was finished with her customers, he made his move. "Excuse me, miss," he said in a somewhat disguised voice. "Could you help me find something?"  
  
"Sure, I'd be--" The woman turned around and was shocked at who she saw. "Sean?! Is it really you?!"  
  
"Hey mom," Sean said. "It's me."  
  
"It's been so long since I've seen you," Sean's mom said as she hugged her kid. "How have you been?"  
  
"Pretty good."  
  
"Why haven't you contacted us?"  
  
"I've been real busy. You wouldn't believe the things that have happened over the last year if you tried."  
  
"When did you get here?"  
  
"Just yesterday. How's dad been?"  
  
"He's doing well. He finally got his own business going."  
  
"Really? That's great. I guess he finally got the banks to cooperate with him."  
  
"Yep. How long are you planning on staying?"  
  
"I'm not sure right now. Probably a week or two."  
  
"You should stop by the house sometime. I'm sure dad would be happy to see you."  
  
"I'll stop by sometime tonight, how's that?"  
  
"I look forward to it."  
  
"Amazing," Sean thought as he and his mother said their goodbyes. "Her age still hasn't caught up with her. I bet she still has fun tricking people with that." He laughed a bit, remembering how they used to be mistaken for brother and sister. After he left the store (after spending some time in the video game section), he looked at his watch. "Hmm, 10:06. Arby's should be open by now. Of course, I'm in no hurry." He vanished and took flight again, following the highway and keeping the same speed as the traffic below.  
  
Fifteen minutes later, Sean arrived at his destination, which, coincidently, was next to another Wal-Mart. "Well," he thought as he reappeared and set foot on solid ground. "It's still standing; that's a good sign." As he approached the door, it opened and a man walked out, take-out in hand. "So I won't be the first one after all; oh well." As he got closer, something clicked in his head. "Could it be? It is!" "Hey, Jimmy!" he said out loud. "Remember me?"  
  
"Hey, Sean!" Jimmy said, quickly recognizing his friend. "It's been a while."  
  
"Too long. How's life been treating you?"  
  
"I can't complain. How's Japan?"  
  
"It's good. Can't complain much about the weather."  
  
"You still working at that hotel?"  
  
Sean couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah. Man, do I have some stories to tell you."  
  
"As much as I want to hear them, I gotta get back to work."  
  
"Maybe another time, then."  
  
"Yeah. Here, I'll give you my new address. Come to my place tomorrow morning around 5:00 and you can tell me all the tales you want."  
  
"See you then," Sean pocketed the address and continued on his way to the door. "Man," he thought. "This morning is just full of surprises; and it won't end if I can help it." He has no idea just how right he was. "Hey y'all!" he yelled upon entering. "Guess who back!"  
  
"Hey, Sean!" the lady at the counter said. This early in the business day, there were only three people working there: all women, all managers, all Sean had come to know pretty well.  
  
"Hey, Martha," Sean said. "Good to see some familiar faces still here."  
  
"Good to see you too," Martha said. She was a middle-aged woman with short blonde hair. "So, what brings you to this neck of the woods?"  
  
"Yeah," another woman said. She was also a middle-aged blonde, but her hair was a bit longer. "Last we heard of you, you were going to be a landlord in Japan."  
  
"Hey, April. I guess I just needed some 'me' time. It's been a long time since I've had a vacation."  
  
"I suppose even a guy so obsessed with numbers as you needs a break from it every once in a while," Theresa, the third woman said. She looked only a couple years older than Sean. She had dark hair with the exception of a blonde ponytail that reached the middle of her back.  
  
"Well, it's not exactly the numbers I'm getting away from. If you think that way I act is a bit strange, you should meet the people I've been living with."  
  
All of a sudden, Sean could hear some faint beeping coming from the headset Theresa was wearing; she had an order at drive-thru. As she went to take the order, April went to the back to make any food that was needed, leaving Sean and Martha alone up front. "So," Sean said. "How's business been?"  
  
"Pretty good, though it was never the same without you."  
  
"I suppose not." Sean was so focused on the conversation he was having, he was completely oblivious to the crowd that had just gathered right outside the door.  
  
"Who is she?" Naru asked.  
  
"Couldn't tell you," Motoko said.  
  
"Maybe she's an ex-girlfriend he never told us about," Kitsune said.  
  
"But didn't he say he never had a girlfriend before he met us?" Shinobu said.  
  
"Yes," Naru said. "Early on, he was really uncomfortable with that issue; I've seen it first hand, but maybe it was all an act."  
  
"He wouldn't lie about something like that, would he?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"She does look a bit old to be his girlfriend," Kitsune noted, rubbing her chin. "But there's only one way to find out. I'm going in."  
  
"Wait," Shinobu said. "What would he do if he found us here?"  
  
"You should have thought of that before bringing us here, Shinobu. Alright, here goes nothing." She opened the door and stepped inside. "So, you really thought you could get away, huh?"  
  
As soon as Sean heard Kitsune's voice, he shut his eyes and placed a hand on his face. "Oh, you gotta be kidding me," he muttered.  
  
"What's wrong?" Martha asked.  
  
"Tell me," Sean asked, pointing to the door. "Look over there and tell me what you see."  
  
"Five girls and a guy walking in."  
  
Sean nodded. "That's what I thought."  
  
"Do you know them?"  
  
"They're the ones I've been living with for the last year."  
  
"Sean," Naru said. "Who is this woman and why do you know her?"  
  
"Yeah," Motoko said. "Have you been lying to us about your past relationships?"  
  
"What? No! I wouldn't lie about something like that! Her name is Martha, and I don't know about you, but I tend to get to know someone when I work with them for four to five years."  
  
"You used to work here?" Shinobu asked, relieved by Sean's explanation.  
  
"Yes. In fact, this was the last job I had before I went to Hinata-Sou."  
  
"Why would you work in a place like this?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I had to pay for college somehow. Besides, I could have done much worse; I used to work at Burger King too."  
  
Hearing Martha laugh a bit, Naru asked, "What's so funny about that?"  
  
"I have a tendency to talk smack about Burger King whenever I get the chance. They deserve it."  
  
"Why's that?"  
  
"My time spent there wasn't exactly pleasant."  
  
"You should be glad to have someone like him," Martha said. "We lost a good man when Sean left us. He's one of the best drive-thru people I've ever seen."  
  
"Oh, we are," Kitsune said. "Believe me, we are."  
  
"Well, since you're all here," Sean said. "Want something to eat? I'll buy."  
  
"Yay!" Suu squealed.  
  
"Uh, don't get too much, okay?" Sean asked, noticing Suu drool in anticipation. Everyone ordered and received their food and sat down at a couple tables. "Okay," Sean said. "How did you guys know I was here? I thought I covered my tracks."  
  
"You did," Kitsune said. "And you did a damn good job, too, but you forgot about your little trip to space with Shinobu. That greatly narrowed down the search."  
  
"Oh, that's right," Sean said, suddenly remembering. "How did you get here so quickly?"  
  
"I got us here," Shinobu said. "I looked up the spell in your binder."  
  
"Figures."  
  
"Hey, Sean," A new voice said, the owner of which being another blonde, female manager (all a coincidence, I can assure you).  
  
"Oh, hey, Jessica," Sean said.  
  
"When did you come back to Myrtle Beach?"  
  
"Yesterday morning."  
  
"I see you finally got contacts."  
  
"Nah, I just had some laser corrective surgery done a while back." This was more true than he'd like to admit to the others.  
  
"Did you come to tell me you finally have a date set for our wedding?"  
  
Hearing that made Sean flinch. "She just had to say that, didn't she?!" he thought.  
  
"WEDDING?!" Everyone in the Hinata Crew yelled. "Since when were you and her engaged?!" Naru asked, balling her fists.  
  
"Never!" Sean quickly said. "We never even dated!" He turned to Jessica. "Didn't I have talk with you about saying things like that years ago?!"  
  
"Yeah, but after finding out you were here, I figured I'd do it for old times' sake."  
  
"Well, that's a good way to get me killed around these girls!"  
  
"Why, are all these girls you're girlfriends?" Jessica asked, jokingly.  
  
"No, just one, thank you."  
  
"So you finally started dating. I'm proud of you. Which one is it?"  
  
"Does it matter?"  
  
"I'm sure you'll make her very happy, whichever one it is." With that, Jessica headed behind the counter.  
  
"I'm sure I will."  
  
"Why would she ask you when you would marry her?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"She thought it would be funny or something. I just found it irritating, myself." He took a bite out of his Turkey Ranch 'n Bacon. "Man, it's been a long time since I've had one of these."  
  
"What are you going to do now that we found you?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Considering the luggage you brought with you, you're here for the long haul, so I guess I don't have much choice but to let you all stay here with me."  
  
"Yay!" Suu yelled. "Hinata Holiday!"  
  
"I can't wait to hit the beach," Kitsune said. "How about you, Naru?"  
  
"I guess we both came prepared, didn't we?" Naru said. "What's so funny?" She asked, hearing Sean stifle a laugh.  
  
"I think Keitaro's glad you're 'prepared.'"  
  
"Oh, really?" Naru turned to Keitaro, who moments before, had a goofy grin on his face. "I guess you have something to look forward to then, huh?"  
  
"I'm sure I do," Keitaro said, regaining his composure.  
  
After everyone finished their meal, Sean decided they should go to his hotel and get them situated. After a while, it was obvious he was planning on getting there the hard way. "Why are we walking?" Kitsune asked. "Why don't we just teleport there?"  
  
"Well, for one, I've been jetting around town for the last couple hours, and two, I want to keep a low profile. Plus, this gives me a chance to ask a few things I've been meaning to."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"When did you actually get here?"  
  
"Around 2:30 this morning," Naru said.  
  
"Unlike you, we didn't take the time difference into account," Keitaro said.  
  
"Where did you sleep?"  
  
"In the field we landed in which, when daybreak came, we found out was somebody's front yard."  
  
"You didn't get in trouble or anything, did you?"  
  
"Nah."  
  
"That's good. I probably know the answer to this already, but why did you come looking for me?"  
  
"Well, we can't have our landlord sneaking off somewhere without telling us beforehand, can we?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "I wouldn't be able to stand it if you were gone all summer."  
  
"I know, and I'm sorry I had to do it, but I'm just trying to keep your safety in mind. What with Suu and Sarah attacking me all summer, that would be an issue."  
  
"That's right," Naru said. "Suu never told you why she does that, did she?"  
  
"What's to explain? I figured she just had a thing for destruction."  
  
"That more to it than that," Suu said. "You remember back when Shonoko tried to destroy us, right?"  
  
"How could I forget?"  
  
"Since then, I figured that something like that might happen again, and I wanted to make sure that you'd be able to protect us from it."  
  
"You should have told me," Sean said. "I would have done something to help out with that."  
  
"I guess I thought it would be better if you didn't see it coming."  
  
"I see your point." Sean glanced at Motoko, who was staring off into space. "You've been pretty quiet. Is there something on your mind?"  
  
That jarred her out of her wandering thoughts. "I don't know how to put this, but…" She was blushing deeply. "We… happened across a guy earlier this morning, and…"  
  
"You're not talking about that cop, are you?" Kitsune asked. All Motoko could do was nod her head.  
  
"I don't remember seeing a cop," Keitaro said, scratching his head.  
  
"It was before you woke up," Kitsune said. She turned back to Motoko. "Sounds like you have a crush on him. Was he cute? I never got a good look at him."  
  
"Yes, he was, but that's not what's getting to me right now. Yes, I found him attractive, but I'm not sure what I should make of it. I mean, we have no idea how big this place is and I may never see him again."  
  
"Life is like that sometimes," Sean said. "You get one fleeting moment and you may never experience it again, but you never know, there's still a chance that you'll run into him again and maybe get to know him better or something like that. In the meantime, you shouldn't let things like that get to you."  
  
"I know that," Motoko said. "But the only guys I've had feelings for are you and Keitaro, and I'm still a bit unaccustomed to them."  
  
"Maybe you can use this vacation to help with that," Kitsune said. "I know I'm going to be looking at hot guys while I'm here."  
  
"Huh boy," Sean thought. "So much for a peaceful vacation."  
  
"So," Naru said. "Where are we going to stay exactly, anyway? You're not going to put us up in some cheap motel, are you?"  
  
"Nope. It's actually a really nice place" Sean gave a thumbs-up. "Right on the beach."  
  
"Then what are we waiting for?!" Kitsune said. "Let's go!" She ran off ahead of the group.  
  
"Wait, Kitsune!" Sean said, chasing after her. "You don't even know which way to go!"  
  
"That Kitsune," Naru said, shaking her head. "She just can't wait to show off, can she?"  
  
After a little while, Sean was able to drag Kitsune back to the group. "Well," he said, slightly out of breath. "Since certain people are eager to get there and it would be a pretty long walk, I guess it wouldn't hurt to teleport all of us there." Within minutes, they were at the hotel, inquiring about rooms. Fortunately, the ones next to Sean's were available. As they rode up the elevator, Sean knew there was one thing left to take care of. "So," he said. "We have three rooms; who will be sleeping with who? Let's start with my room--" In an instant, Shinobu wrapped her arm around his. "Okay, that takes care of one room."  
  
"Keitaro and I can share the second one," Naru said. "For some reason, I wouldn't trust him alone with any of the other girls."  
  
"Okay then," Sean said. "That just leaves--hmm…"  
  
"What's wrong?" Motoko said, noticing the serious look on Sean's face.  
  
"Seven people, six beds. Somebody's going to have to share."  
  
"We can share," Shinobu said without a moment's hesitation.  
  
"I'm so glad we're the only ones in the elevator right now," Sean thought. "As long as nobody has any objections."  
  
"I can sleep in the other bed in your room," Kitsune said. "And Motoko and Suu can be in the third room."  
  
"Is everyone alright with that?" Sean asked. "Of course, all the rooms are connected, so we can switch things around at a moment's notice." Nobody had any objects to the sleeping arrangements. When they got to their floor, they quickly headed to their respective rooms.  
  
"Wow," Shinobu said upon entering the room. "This really is nice." She walked over to the balcony. "We even have a view of the ocean."  
  
"Yeah, the room's nice and all," Kitsune said. "But why are there two beds in here? Weren't you staying here by yourself?"  
  
"I guess I knew in the back of my mind that, despite my efforts, you girls would find me," Sean said.  
  
"Good enough for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take advantage of this situation." She quickly changed into a bikini, grabbed a beach towel and some sunscreen from her suitcase and headed out. "See you guys later!"  
  
"See ya!" Sean said. "Don't get burned! Well, there she goes." He said that last part after Kitsune left and as he joined Shinobu out onto the balcony to look out at the view.  
  
"It's a wonderful view, isn't it?" Shinobu said after a few minutes.  
  
"Yeah," Sean said unenthusiastically as he walked back inside.  
  
"What's wrong?" Shinobu asked, following him and sitting next to him on one of the beds.  
  
"I'm just wondering if I made a mistake in coming here."  
  
"You're not angry at us for following you here, are you?"  
  
"No, it's more like I'm upset at myself for letting it happen. You know, for as long as I've thought about it, I've considered myself a perfectionist. I like things to go a certain way, and if things go wrong, I take out my frustrations on myself, as though it was my fault that it happened; whether or not I'm actually to blame. The main reason why I beat myself up like I do is that I don't want to take it out on somebody else. That's why I left when I did, but if I had just thought it through instead of making such a spur-of-the-moment decision, I would have realized that in my effort to prevent myself from hurting you all physically, I would end up doing emotional damage instead."  
  
"Sean, it wasn't your fault."  
  
"Wasn't it? This whole thing started because of me. If I hadn't destroyed Suu's tanks, Sarah wouldn't have attacked me and I'd have never left. This morning, I began to really regret what I had done and seriously considered going back, but Kitsune would probably call me a coward or something like that."  
  
"Who cares about what she'd say? I would have been overjoyed just to see you back, though it's a good thing you decided to stay here, cuz if you did go back, you would have returned to an empty house."  
  
"You do have a point there. All things considering, everything probably turned out for the best."  
  
"There you go! Now, how about we go join Kitsune down on the beach?"  
  
"You go ahead. Even though I've lived here for about half my life, I've never been much of a beach person."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"You remember what I looked like when you first met me, right? I wasn't exactly in the best of shape."  
  
"Yeah, but you've lost weight since then."  
  
"I can't imagine why," Sean thought.  
  
"Besides, who said you had to go to the beach as a guy?"  
  
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Sean turned into a bikini-clad Alicia. "Besides, it may take both of us to keep Kitsune from getting some poor guy in trouble with his girlfriend."  
  
--- 12:12 PM  
  
"You know what," Kitsune said. "I don't care if you were initially trying to ditch all of us. This is the best idea you've ever had."  
  
"You said it," Naru added. "For a change, school is the last thing on my mind right now."  
  
"Maybe that's because school's out for the summer, but I still stand by my opinion."  
  
"You're only saying that because you actually found me," Alicia said. "Who knows what you would be going through right now if you made the wrong guess?" Alicia, Kitsune, Naru and Motoko were each on blankets, getting some sun, watching Keitaro, Shinobu and Suu play in the ocean. "They look like they're having fun."  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "It almost makes me want to get up and join them. Almost."  
  
"Hey, Naru," Alicia asked.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Have you ever given any thought as to just how far your relationship with Keitaro will go?"  
  
"Not really. I just take each day as it comes."  
  
"On that topic," Kitsune said with a grin at her implied play on words. "Is Keitaro good in bed?"  
  
"Kitsune!" Motoko said. "That not an appropriate topic for a place like this where kids can hear us!"  
  
"Oh, please. Considering what's on television these days, kids know more about things than we give them credit for."  
  
"I agree with Motoko," Naru said. "Besides, as sad as it sounds, Sean knows the answer to that question better than I do."  
  
"So you're taking it slow, I see," Sean said.  
  
"Why? Has he said anything to you about that?"  
  
"Technically, no."  
  
"Care to elaborate on that?"  
  
"You mean he never told you?"  
  
"Told me what?"  
  
"This is going to be good," Kitsune thought, her ears ready to soak in every last word.  
  
"You know how good at drawing he is, right?"  
  
"Well, sure, but what does that have to do with me?"  
  
"When we get back, you should take a look in his closet. In it, you'll find a pad with a bunch of drawings of a certain girl."  
  
"Is that so?"  
  
"Yep. I don't know how he'll react to me telling you this, since he's not even aware that I know of it."  
  
"What kinds of drawings are we talking about?"  
  
"Let's put it this way: at least some of them would most certainly have gotten him killed if you had seen them while you still had a short fuse."  
  
"What?" Naru's eye started to twitch.  
  
"We're not talking nudity here, though there were some that were quite revealing. From what I've seen, it's apparent that he had a crush on you from day one."  
  
"I wonder why he never said anything before?"  
  
"Probably because he was too busy trying to stay alive," Kitsune said.  
  
"My thoughts exactly," Alicia said. "And I have a couple words of advice for you, Naru."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
"Don't ask him about his drawings until we get back. Also, I haven't looked at them since I moved out of that room. If he was drawing the way he was while you hated him, I can only guess as to what he drew after you two got together."  
  
"I can certainly see where he gets his inspiration," Motoko said. "considering how many accidents he's had."  
  
"Not to mention having such a beautiful subject," Alicia said.  
  
"Hey, I don't like being referred to like that!" Naru said, provoking laughs from the others. "Although, I have to know; how do I look in those drawings?"  
  
"I can't be put into words," Alicia simply said.  
  
"Oh." Naru found herself staring at Keitaro as he continued to play with the two youngest Hinata girls in the water. "You think he'd make a good father?"  
  
"Why do you ask?" Kitsune asked. "Are you planning on finding out any time soon?"  
  
"No! I was just… curious, that's all."  
  
"In my opinion," Alicia said. "I think he'd make a great dad. He's responsible, dedicated, kind-hearted--"  
  
"And his constant clumsiness can keep a kid entertained for hours," Kitsune added.  
  
"You got that right," Alicia said as all four girls started laughing, partially because Suu had just tackled Keitaro in the water.  
  
"You know," Kitsune said. "It's a good thing we tracked you down."  
  
"And why's that?" Alicia asked, turning over onto her stomach.  
  
"It's depressing how someone with such good friends--and in a way, lovers--to go on vacation all by himself."  
  
"You know why I felt by myself," Alicia said. "Besides, it's not like I chose Myrtle Beach at random. I've lived here for 11 years, and I still have friends and family around. In fact, I was planning on visiting my folks later on tonight and seeing a friend of mine tomorrow morning."  
  
"Think we can go with you to meet your parents?" Naru asked.  
  
"Sure, but maybe another time. I think we should let them get used to my being back before they meet you all, but I don't think my friend would mind me bringing you along to meet him. He said to be at his place at 5:00."  
  
"Why so early?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Last I heard of him, he was into martial arts. Maybe he uses the early mornings to practice or something like Motoko does."  
  
"Martial arts, huh?" Motoko said, suddenly interested in the conversation.  
  
"Sounds like that caught your interest," Kitsune said.  
  
"How skilled is he?" Motoko asked, ignoring Kitsune's comment.  
  
"Can't say. Until this morning, I haven't seen him since I moved to Japan. Sounds like you're looking forward to meeting him."  
  
"Yeah, well, when are we going to get another chance to meet some of your old friends?"  
  
"Good point. If you want. I can set up a wake up call for us at 4:30."  
  
"That should work."  
  
"Alright," Kitsune said. "Time for serious talk is over; this is supposed to be a time for relaxation, remember?"  
  
"Yeah," Alicia said. "It already looks and feels like I brought my job with me."  
  
--- 8:13 PM  
  
"I'm back," Sean said, walking into his hotel room.  
  
"Hey," Shinobu said. "How are your parents doing?"  
  
"They're doing alright, though for some reason, they didn't want to see me leave so soon. I have a feeling that when they meet you all, they'll figure out what I've been up to for the past year."  
  
Kitsune giggled a bit. "Yeah, no kidding."  
  
"Do they know that you can use magic?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"They do now."  
  
"How did they take it?"  
  
"Pretty well. I was working on my first spells for a couple months before you met me; I think they knew something was going on, but they just didn't know what."  
  
"What are you're plans for tonight?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Well, considering how early we'll be getting up tomorrow, I was going to turn in early. Besides, it's not like we won't have to any nights out while we're here. Just be glad you get to sleep indoors tonight."  
  
"Not to mention in such a nice bed," Kitsune added.  
  
Sean turned into Alicia and got into bed, with Shinobu and Kitsune changing and following suit shortly thereafter. "I'm glad we could spend this vacation together," Shinobu said.  
  
"Me too," Sean said. The two would fall asleep at about the same time, in each other's arms.  
  
---  
  
"I just can't help it." Naru was having a difficult time getting to sleep. She looked over at the other bed, where Keitaro was already fast asleep. "I can't stop wondering what's in that damn sketchbook of his. I don't know if I'll be able to keep myself from bringing it up before we get back to Hinata-Sou."  
  
Meanwhile, Motoko was in the same boat as Naru, but her thoughts were heading in a very different direction. Specifically, visions of the cop from that morning and ideas as to what Sean's friend might look like. Given time though, both Motoko and Naru would drift away from the reality that was the waking world.  
  
End of Chapter XLIV   
  
Some of you people might be thinking that these last couple chapters have been a bit lacking (though definitely not in size), but I assure you, things are going to get more interesting in the next chapter. See you then! Please R&R! 


	47. Ch45: Small World

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me and Jimmy is a friend of mine and also one of my biggest fans.  
  
Chapter XLV: Small World   
  
Wednesday, 6/4 4:24 AM  
  
When Alicia woke up, it was still dark outside. As much as she wanted to fall back asleep, she remembered her appointment with her friend, Jimmy. This forced her to look at the clock to see just how early it was. "Figures," she thought, also remembering the wake up call set up for 4:30. "There's no point in me going back to sleep, but that doesn't mean I have to wake anyone else up yet." She got out of bed as slowly and as silently as she could, so she wouldn't disturb either Kitsune or Shinobu and made her way to the bathroom. However, unbeknownst to her, a pair of eyes were following her every move the entire time.  
  
When Alicia got into the bathroom, she stripped off her nightgown and turned on the shower. Waiting for the water to heat up gave her a bit of time for her mind to wander to a variety of topics, not the least of which being what Jimmy has been up to while she was in Japan. After a minute, she got in and started shampooing her hair and soaping up the rest of her body. "Having the others show up like they did really shook things up. With all of them around, this vacation just got more interesting."  
  
"You don't know the half of it," a voice said from the other side of the curtain. Said curtain was suddenly thrown open, revealing a certain woman who looked ready for a shower herself.  
  
"Kitsune?!" Alicia said, covering herself up. "What are you doing here? I thought you were asleep!"  
  
Kitsune chuckled a bit. "By now, you should know better than to try to be sneaky around me, no matter the reason."  
  
"You still haven't answered my question."  
  
"What? It's not like we haven't bathed together in the past, right?" She snatched the washcloth out of Alicia's hand. "Here, let me wash your back for you."  
  
"Thanks," Alicia said, calming down.  
  
"You know what? I realized another reason why you should be glad we found you."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
"Because you have needs, just like the rest of us, and without me or Motoko or any of others around, who can you turn to? I know how much you hate being horny all by yourself."  
  
"You've made your point, but I'm not exactly in that kind of mood right now," Alicia said. "Or at least I wasn't until you came in here and brought it up," she thought.  
  
Kitsune wrapped her arms around Alicia's waist from behind and started whispering in her ear. "Maybe, but a girl can never be too careful can she? Sometimes, the best way to deal with sexual frustration is to stop it before it starts." She started moving her hands up Alicia's body. "Or in other words, nip it--" she pinched Alicia's nipples. "--in the bud."  
  
"Well, since you put it that way," Alicia said, enjoying the moment. "Go ahead and nip all you want."  
  
"I intend to."  
  
---  
  
Shinobu woke up to the sound of a ringing phone. After sitting up and rubbing the sleepers from her eyes, she noticed that she was the only one in the room, so she saw fit to answer it. "Hello?" It was someone from the hotel making the arranged wake-up call. "Alright, thank you." She hung up the phone. "Why would--oh yeah, that's right. We're meeting Sean's friend this morning. Speaking of which, where is Sean? And Kitsune's missing too. They must already be awake."  
  
As she got out of bed, she was suddenly aware of the sound of running water coming from the bathroom, and it confirmed her suspicions. "So that's where they're at." It didn't take long for Shinobu to figure out what they were doing--the faint moaning was a dead giveaway. "Sounds like they're enjoying themselves." Figuring they might be a little while, she decided to go ahead pick out her clothes for the day. "It's almost like we never left."  
  
A few minutes later, the two lovers emerged from the bathroom, towels wrapped around their bodies. "I tell you what," Alicia said. "I'd like to see someone try to think of a better way to relieve stress."  
  
"You two have fun?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"You got that right," Kitsune said.  
  
"For a second, I thought you might never get out of there," Shinobu said as she went to take her turn in the shower.  
  
"You know," Kitsune said, a mischievous grin on her face. "If you wanted to, you could have joined us."  
  
Shinobu started to blush. "Um, well…"  
  
"Kitsune, I'm sure she'll come over to the dark side when the time is right." Alicia turned to Shinobu. "Apparently, now wasn't the time; am I right?"  
  
"Right," Shinobu said as she closed the bathroom door.  
  
"I really don't appreciate you trying to corrupt my girlfriend, Kitsune."  
  
"Oh, please," Kitsune said. "Considering how long she's been living with all of us, you'd think that her being 'corrupted' should be the least of your worries."  
  
"She doesn't seem that affected to me, other than her not being freaked out by it or anything." Alicia was barely able to keep a straight face. Out of everyone at Hinata-Sou, she was the only one that knew just how innocent Shinobu really was.  
  
"So," Kitsune said as she and Alicia got dressed, with Alicia turning into Sean in the process. "How far does this friend of yours… what was his name?"  
  
"Jimmy."  
  
"Right. How far away is his place?"  
  
"Not far; just a ways up the road. We can walk there, no problem."  
  
"Tell me, is he hot?"  
  
Sean raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"  
  
"I'm serious. Is he a good looking man?"  
  
"I've never looked at him that way; and I hope I never will. Besides, isn't that sort of thing just a matter of opinion?"  
  
"If you won't give me any info, I'll just have to see for myself when we get there."  
  
"I guess you will, and I seriously doubt you'll be the only one."  
  
--- 4:56 AM  
  
After a quick breakfast, the whole group set out to find Jimmy's house, but not all were glad to be doing so. "Remind me again why we're out here at this time in the morning?" Naru asked.  
  
"This is when Jimmy told me to meet him," Sean said.  
  
"Good thing we went to bed so early, huh?" Keitaro said. Him, Shinobu and Naru were the only ones still a bit tired that morning. Motoko was always an early riser, Suu was as energetic as ever, and Sean and Kitsune were wide awake for obvious reasons.  
  
"You didn't have to come along if you didn't want to," Sean said.  
  
"We know," Naru said. "But I think it'd be nice to see who you hung out with before you met us."  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "Besides, it's not like we know where anything is around here, anyway."  
  
"I'm still hungry," Suu whined.  
  
"What else is new?" Sean said, looking at the paper with Jimmy's address on it. "Well, this is the place."  
  
"Nice place," Kitsune said, gazing at the condo. "But it's no Hinata House."  
  
"Here's a news flash, Kitsune," Naru said. "Not everyone can live like we do."  
  
"Yeah," Sean said. "Some people actually want to own the place they call home; something none of us can say right now." It was at that instant that Sean realized that Suu had quieted down significantly in the last few moments. "Hey, Suu, you alright?" No response. "Uh, Suu?"  
  
"Look," Suu simply said, pointing to a vehicle in the driveway. It was a dark-colored truck with flames on the sides and a neon green biohazard symbol on the hood. "I've never seen anything like it."  
  
"Is she for real?" Naru thought as she saw Suu's eyes twinkling; she was almost in tears. "Hey, where are you going?"  
  
"I must take a closer look at this work of art," Suu said, slowly walking closer to the truck.  
  
"I don't think that's a good idea," Motoko said.  
  
"Aw, what's the harm in taking a look?" Suu edged closer. "It's so beautiful. Just like the car I'd like to have some day." Without warning, a pulsing green glow appeared underneath the vehicle.  
  
"What did you do?!" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Nothing! I didn't even touch it, I swear!"  
  
"Oh, man," Kitsune said. "This isn't good." Everyone started to panic… well, almost everyone.  
  
Shinobu turned to Sean, surprised that her boyfriend was laughing at a time like this. "What's so funny?" she asked.  
  
"Yeah," Motoko added. "What's the deal?"  
  
"You should have seen the looks on your faces," Sean said, barely able to stifle his laughter. "It's priceless."  
  
"Hey, wait a second," Kitsune said. "You knew about this, didn't you?"  
  
"Kinda. Jimmy's had that truck for a while now, and the light show can only mean one thing…" Sean looked around, until his eyes locked on something--or rather, someone. "There he is. Hey, Jimmy!"  
  
"Hey, Sean," Jimmy said, approaching the group. "Friends of yours?"  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"Were you the one that caused the truck to glow?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yep." Jimmy said.  
  
"Allow me to introduce you to my friends and roommates: Keitaro…"  
  
"Pleased to meet you."  
  
"Naru…"  
  
"Hmph."  
  
"Suu…"  
  
"I love your truck!"  
  
"Shinobu…"  
  
"It's good to finally meet one of Sean's friends."  
  
"Kitsune…"  
  
"He is a hottie," she thought.  
  
"And last, but certainly not least, Motoko."  
  
Motoko felt her heart start pounding in her chest. "No way," she thought. "There's just no way…"  
  
"Motoko?" Naru asked. Despite her glowing red face, Motoko looked like she had seen a ghost. "Is something wrong?"  
  
"Girls, can I talk to you? Now?" She led the girls to the other side of the truck.  
  
"What's that all about?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Who knows?" Sean said.  
  
"So, what have you been up to since you've been gone?"  
  
"Oh, this and that."  
  
"Things must be going pretty well at that hotel you're working at."  
  
"Actually, it turned out to be more of a girls' apartment complex than anything else. I found that out the hard way; the painful way."  
  
"Ouch."  
  
"Thankfully, I gained their trust over time."  
  
"I should hope so."  
  
"HE'S WHAT?!!" Kitsune yelled. Shushing sounds quickly followed.  
  
"Al…righty then," Sean said, curious as to what was being said. Listening closely, he realized that they had started talking in Japanese, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. "Hmm," he thought. "Whatever they're saying, they don't want Jimmy to find out. I wonder…"  
  
"With such beautiful tenants," Jimmy said, "the temptation must be pretty strong."  
  
"That's putting it lightly."  
  
"So, tell me: have you hooked up with one of them?"  
  
"In a way, yes."  
  
"Care to elaborate?"  
  
"I have been with some of them, just not the way you think."  
  
"Say what?"  
  
"Are you familiar with the spell Alter Self, from D&D?"  
  
"Of course. We've played the game long enough."  
  
"Watch." Sean turned into Alicia, then back again a few seconds later.  
  
"How did you do that?"  
  
"By this point, you might consider me a pretty good level sorc."  
  
"Wow, how did the girls found out about that?"  
  
"Better than I expected, considering the circumstances. I've actually taught them the basics, but only one of them has pursued it further since then; she ended up becoming my girlfriend."  
  
"And which one is it?"  
  
"Shinobu."  
  
Jimmy raised an eyebrow. "Just how old is she?"  
  
"13."  
  
"You know that you won't be able to do certain things with her while you're here, right?"  
  
"We haven't been back home."  
  
"Never mind, then."  
  
"That's what Kitsune's for, but we've only had girl-girl relations."  
  
"I see. Hey, Keitaro," Jimmy said, getting him involved in the conversation. "You have a girlfriend?"  
  
"Naru," Keitaro said, nodding.  
  
"Nice." All three guys heard the volume slightly rise in the girls' voices. "Hey, you want to hear a secret?" Jimmy whispered something into ears of the other two, causing them to start laughing hysterically.  
  
--- (Meanwhile…)  
  
"Motoko, what is it you want to talk about," Naru asked, as she and the other girls were almost dragged to the side by the swordswoman.  
  
"You see that guy over there?" Motoko said after a while, her face still a bright shade of red.  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said.  
  
"Well, you see…" Motoko felt the words get caught in her throat for a moment. "That man… was the cop from yesterday."  
  
"HE'S WHAT?!" Kitsune yelled.  
  
"Shut up!" Motoko quickly said. "I don't want him to find out yet!"  
  
"But he's right over there," Shinobu said. "What can we do to keep him from listening in on us?"  
  
"Start talking in Japanese, that's what."  
  
"So," Kitsune said, stroking her chin. "He's the one you had a crush on this whole time, huh?"  
  
"Yes." Motoko said, seemingly humiliated.  
  
"Why don't you go and tell him about it?" Naru asked.  
  
"You know I've had a couple false starts in the past. I just want to make sure that these feelings I'm having are for real this time."  
  
"Motoko," Shinobu said. "You'll never get anywhere by just hiding out whenever you're attracted to a guy."  
  
"I'm well aware of that, it's just that…"  
  
"It's just what?"  
  
"It's just that I can't let myself run the risk of some guy having his way with my emotions… among other things." She paused a bit before continuing. "But you're right. By not saying anything, I'd only be torturing myself. Besides, if a guy does happen to cross the line, he'll face my wrath."  
  
"Now that's the Motoko we all know," Naru said.  
  
"Yep," Kitsune added. "Being cowardly certainly doesn't--" She was interrupted by the sound of Sean and Keitaro laughing hysterically.  
  
"What's so funny?" Shinobu asked, poking her head around the truck.  
  
"Oh nothing," Sean said, grinning like an idiot.  
  
"C'mon, Sean," Kitsune said. "Tell us."  
  
"Alright, but I think Jimmy should say it."  
  
Jimmy just grinned. "Are you girls trying to hide something from me?" Sean and Keitaro struggled to keep from busting out laughing again.  
  
Meanwhile, the girls were in shock. It wasn't so much because of what Jimmy said, but how he said it; he spoke fluent Japanese. "How did he…?" Naru thought.  
  
"How could you do such a thing?!" Shinobu asked.  
  
"How could I what?" Sean asked back.  
  
"You used your magic to teach him Japanese so he could listen in on our conversation, didn't you?"  
  
"I did no such thing!"  
  
"He's right," Jimmy said. "I actually took the time and the effort to learn it on my own."  
  
"That's why it was so funny," Keitaro said.  
  
"Hey, Motoko," Jimmy said. "Do you really have a crush on me?"  
  
Once again, Motoko's face was glowing red. "Um, I…" She would faint before she could finish a thought, much less a sentence.  
  
"Wow," Sean said as Naru caught Motoko. "That's a first."  
  
"The shock must have been too much for her," Keitaro said.  
  
"Here," Jimmy said. "Let's get her inside."  
  
---  
  
"Ugh," Motoko muttered as she came to. "What happened?"  
  
"You blacked out," Naru said.  
  
"Where am I?" Motoko asked, as she sat up on the couch she was placed on.  
  
"In Jimmy's living room," Sean answered.  
  
"Where is he?!" Motoko asked, getting up onto her feet.  
  
"He's out on the beach practicing."  
  
"Practicing what?"  
  
"Go out and see for yourself. Call it a surprise."  
  
"I think I've had enough surprises for one day."  
  
"I'm sure you can handle one more."  
  
Her curiosity taking over, Motoko went out the back door and found Jimmy on the beach, practicing with a sword. "So he is into martial arts," she thought. "Can this get any better?"  
  
Jimmy turned around to find Motoko standing near the door. "Oh, you finally woke up. That's good. Are you feeling okay?"  
  
"Yes, thank you."  
  
"Now that things have calmed down some, could you answer my question?"  
  
"Hmm? Oh, that's right. Yes, it is true; I have found myself unable to keep you out of my thoughts ever since you found us yesterday morning."  
  
"To be honest, I haven't been able to either. I guess love at first sight does exist."  
  
Motoko giggled a bit. "I suppose it does." She started walking towards him. "How long have you been using a sword?"  
  
"A few years now."  
  
"I've been traveling the way of the sword for the last ten years."  
  
"Have you now?"  
  
"Yeah," Sean said. "And she's damn good at what she does, too. Keitaro and I have experienced that first hand."  
  
"I see. Would you like to join me, Motoko?"  
  
"I'd be glad to."  
  
"I think we'll just let you two get better acquainted," Sean said. "See you later!"  
  
"Where do you want me to take her when she's ready to go?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Our hotel's just a ways up the road. We all walked to get here."  
  
"Alright, then." As an afterthought, he added, "Hey, if need to get anywhere, you can use my truck. How does that sound?"  
  
"Take the truck!!" Suu screamed from the background.  
  
"We'll… think it over," Sean said.  
  
"I'll see you all later!" Motoko said.  
  
"I have a couple extra swords," Jimmy said. "I'll go get one for you."  
  
Jimmy started towards the door, with Motoko following close behind until she caught a glimpse of the ring on her finger and remembered it's significance. "Actually," she said. "I just remembered that I brought my own with me."  
  
"Really?" Jimmy watch with astonishment as Motoko unsheathed a sword out of mid air, much to his surprise. "How did you do that?"  
  
"It's the ring. Sean made it for me as a Christmas present."  
  
"Some present. Shall we get started, then?"  
  
"Let's," Motoko said as the two walked back out onto the beach. "If I may ask, what style of swordsmanship do you practice…?"  
  
---  
  
The whole group, minus Motoko, walked back to the hotel.  
  
"It seems those two have hit it off," Kitsune said.  
  
"No doubt," Sean said.  
  
"Where should we go today?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I don't know," Sean said. "We have so many options at our disposal… we could go to a water park."  
  
"Sounds like fun," Naru said.  
  
"Shouldn't we tell Motoko where we're going?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sean said. "I have Jimmy's phone number, so we can call them before we head out." Suddenly, something popped into his head. "Hey, that gives me an idea."  
  
"What are you thinking about?" Shinobu asked, recognizing the look on Sean's face.  
  
"An idea for a spell. I'll meet you back in our room."  
  
"Where are you going?"  
  
"Just to get something real quick." In a flash, Sean was gone.  
  
"Oh, man," Shinobu said. "Here we go again. Why does he always get like this when he comes up with a new spell?"  
  
--- Local time, 8:14 PM  
  
"Where is everyone?" Haruka asked herself as she traversed the halls of Hinata-Sou. Suddenly, she saw a flash of light coming from Sean's room. Quickly, she made her way to his door, but when she got there, there was another flash and when she opened it, she found the room to be empty. "What the hell is going on around here?!" she yelled.  
  
---  
  
Shinobu entered her hotel room to find Sean already there, scribbling something on a sheet of paper. "Did you get what you needed?"  
  
"Sure did," Sean said, barely looking up from his work.  
  
"What are you working on?"  
  
"A way that I can communicate with someone, no matter how far away I am."  
  
"How long is this going to take?"  
  
"It should only take a few more minutes. This isn't one that will take all day."  
  
"Thank goodness. I wouldn't want you to be doing things like this too often on your vacation."  
  
"Me either, knowing how you feel about it, but I think this one will come in handy." Shinobu watched intently as Sean continued to write in the binder that he had gotten from his room a little while ago. "Alright," he said after a while. "Let's see if it works." Sean held his left fist with his right hand.  
  
"What are you doing?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"For all intents and purposes, turning my hand into a phone."  
  
"You're what?!"  
  
"You'll see. Ah, that should do it. Here we go." He extended his thumb and pinky out and suddenly heard a peculiar sound. "Well, we have dial tone. That's a start."  
  
Shinobu watched curiously as it looked like Sean was trying to dial on his knuckles. "Um, who are you calling?"  
  
"Haruka. I'm going to check up on how things are going back home."  
  
"Oh, that's right, we never told her we were leaving."  
  
Sean looked at Shinobu, a blank look on his face. "…What?"  
  
---  
  
"So you haven't seen them either?" Sarah asked.  
  
"No. I'm starting to get worried. They've been gone for a couple days now." Haruka heard the phone ringing. "What is it?"  
  
"Hey, Haruka. Um, how's everything on your end?"  
  
"Sean, where the hell are you?!"  
  
"The girls, Keitaro and I are out on vacation. Don't worry; we'll be back eventually. Could you make sure nothing happens to the place before we get back?"  
  
Haruka calmed down some. "Alright, now that I know you're all okay, could you give me a location?"  
  
"I'm afraid not. I don't want any more… unexpected guests. We'll see you in about a month or so."  
  
"Okay, then."  
  
"Where are they?" Sarah asked as Haruka hung up the phone.  
  
"On vacation somewhere. He refused to say where."  
  
"Maybe he's afraid I'd try to find him."  
  
"And why's that?"  
  
"Well, it's like this…"  
  
---  
  
"Well, that was relatively painless," Sean muttered as he hung up his hand. He looked around and found Shinobu out on the balcony. "What are you looking at?"  
  
"Look down there," Shinobu said. "A crowd of people is forming over there."  
  
"Hey, that's where Motoko and Jimmy are, isn't it?"  
  
"I think so."  
  
"Let's see just what's going on over there." Sean's eyes started glowing green. "Ah, no wonder there's a crowd. They're sparring. Dang, he better than I remember."  
  
"You think they'll have a relationship like we do?"  
  
"Only time will tell." Sean started giggling.  
  
"What's so funny?"  
  
"I just thought of a real mean thing to do to him."  
  
"And what's that?"  
  
Sean started dialing on his knuckles again. "Let's find out if he keeps his cell phone with him at all times, shall we?"  
  
Moments later, Jimmy screamed as the ringing phone in his pocket took his attention away from his opponent for a brief moment; one that lead to him losing a few strands of hair.  
  
End of Chapter XLV   
  
How many of you saw Motoko's revelation coming? See you next time around! Please R&R! 


	48. Ch46: Just the Girls

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me and Jimmy is a friend of mine and one of my biggest fans and supporters.  
  
Here we go again.  
  
Chapter XLVI: Just the Girls   
  
The days went by with Jimmy and Motoko spent more and more of their available time together, eventually evolving from simply being training partners into a full boyfriend/girlfriend relationship. Motoko couldn't have been happier that she finally found someone that she can connect with, not to mention that, at last, her crush had become more than just that.  
  
Meanwhile, the whole group, lead by Sean and Jimmy (when he wasn't at work), went on a tour of the Grand Strand, visiting 2 water parks, 2 amusement parks, 4 malls, Sean's alma mater, both high school and college, and too many nightclubs to count. After one particularly late night at a karaoke bar/arcade, sleeping in a bit sounded very appealing to Sean. Little did he know, plans were already in the works for the next day…  
  
--- Tuesday, 6/17 9:50 AM  
  
Alicia laid in bed, still half-asleep. She was briefly aware of the daylight in the room, but felt no need to get up quite yet. "Just a few more minutes," her mind said over and over again like a broken record. At this point, being close to Shinobu was all she craved. With a quick, blind search, she found bed sheets, but, much to her surprise, nothing else. She opened her eyes and confirmed what her hands had already told her; Shinobu wasn't in bed.  
  
Sitting up, Alicia found that not only wasn't Shinobu in bed, but she wasn't even in the room. She wasn't the only one, as Kitsune was missing as well. "I wonder where they're at. Maybe they hit the beach." She happened a glance outside; it was pouring rain. "Okay, maybe not. They must be downstairs having breakfast or something."  
  
She got out of bed, and quickly realized the hard way that her legs were quite sore. "Serves me right," She muttered with a groan. "Maybe I shouldn't have played Dance Dance Revolution so many times last night--though it was fun." She smiled as she remembered the events of the night before; all of them had tried their hand--or rather, their feet--at the game, with varying degrees of success. "I guess I should tone it down some today."  
  
She went into the bathroom and got ready to take a shower. As she began cleansing herself, her paranoia kicked in, and he found herself looking in the direction of the door time and time again, half-expecting Kitsune to appear before her. After about a dozen glances, she shook her head. "What's wrong with me?" she thought. "I'll find out where they're at soon enough. I just need to get my mind off that until then." After a few moments of contemplation, she found a suitable topic to focus on for the moment. "I'm a bit surprised Motoko and Jimmy have gotten as close as they have as of late. Sure, when they first got together, I had a feeling they'd hit it off, but they exceeded any expectations I had. I can only guess as to what will happen when the time comes for us to head back home."  
  
Eventually, mercifully, Alicia finished with her shower. "Now," she said, wrapping herself with the towel she just used to dry herself off with. "Time to get dressed and look for Shinobu and Kitsune." As soon as she stepped out the bathroom door, she found the she didn't have to look for anyone; for they had found her first.  
  
"SURPRISE!!"  
  
Alicia was so shocked by the sudden appearance by the other girls, she almost dropped her towel. "What's all this about?" She asked. "What's the occasion?"  
  
"Don't tell me you don't remember what significance today has," Motoko said.  
  
In an instant, Alicia remembered that on this day, one year ago, he had first set foot in Hinata-Sou, but the comedienne in her wanted to have some fun with it. "Am I supposed to be?"  
  
"Figures," Naru muttered. "Leave it to a man to forget an anniversary. I would have thought you would be the last person to forget today."  
  
"You know what?" Alicia said, a slight grin forming. "You're right. I couldn't forget today if I tried."  
  
"Then why did you say you didn't?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I couldn't help myself. What did you have planned for today?"  
  
"Well," Kitsune said. "We did plan on us girls going out, but as you can see…" She gestured out the window. "…that idea's down the drain, so we decided to have a sort of all-day slumber party instead."  
  
"That makes sense," Alicia said. "After what we did last night, I wasn't planning on doing too much today anyway. Plus, that would explain why everyone's wearing pajamas. Mind if I do the same?"  
  
"Of course," Naru said.  
  
Alicia walked over to her suitcase and picked out a suitable outfit for the occasion, a knee-length nightgown. "This should work," she said. "First let's get rid of this thing." She tossed her towel to the side. Almost immediately, she heard a wolf whistle. "Very funny, Kitsune," she said, keeping her back to the others.  
  
"That wasn't me," Kitsune said.  
  
Alicia glanced back at the other girls; none of them were making eye contact. "Oookay," she thought. "That was weird." She quickly put the nightgown on before more could be said. "Alright, who's hungry? I'm ordering room service."  
  
"We had breakfast about an hour ago," Motoko said.  
  
"Fair enough." Alicia picked up the phone and ordered some breakfast to be delivered. As she hung up the phone, an evil smile appeared on her face.  
  
"What are you thinking," Naru asked.  
  
"I just thought of something that could prove very entertaining. Let's see if we get a chance to see it happen. This day's all about having fun, right?"  
  
Everyone agreed with Alicia and soon became very interested in what she had planned. Minutes went by and there was a knock at the door. Alicia's eyes turned blue for a moment, and the smile reappeared on her face. "Perfect. Kitsune, you go answer the door; you'll know what to do."  
  
Kitsune did what she was told and what she found behind door number one was a rather handsome looking man with a tray of food. "Well," she said. "Hello there."  
  
"Hello ma'am," the man said, seemingly unfazed by Kitsune's state of dress. "Here's the room service you ordered."  
  
"Thanks a bunch," Kitsune said. "You're not just going to leave are you?"  
  
"I have work to do."  
  
"You're job is to deliver room service, right?" Kitsune said, grabbing his arm. "Well, I know how you can be of some service… if you catch my drift."  
  
"I'm not supposed to have relations with the guests."  
  
"I'm sure you can make this one exception; we won't tell anyone. Besides, my five beautiful, horny friends and I are in desperate need of a man; and you fit the bill quite nicely if I do say so myself."  
  
"I don't think this is a good idea."  
  
"I don't think you have a choice." Kitsune dragged the reluctant man into the room, where the other girls could get a good look at him, and vice versa. "Hey girls, look who I found!"  
  
"Very nice," Alicia said, patting the bed next to her. "Have a seat."  
  
"I'm not sure if--"  
  
"Might I add," Kitsune said. "That we don't take kindly to the word 'no.'"  
  
At first, the other girls were baffled by what was going on, but quickly caught on to the trick being played on the hapless bellhop. "That's right," Naru said as he sat down on the bed, with Alicia on one side, Kitsune on the other and herself behind him. "When we want something, we can go to great lengths to see that we get it."  
  
Now, you gotta understand, this guy has considered himself a player for a few years now, but he had already lost three jobs because of… inappropriate conduct, and he wasn't eager to lose a fourth the same way. "I really need to get back to work--"  
  
"What's wrong?" Motoko asked, stepping in front of him, blocking his way. "Don't like what you see?"  
  
"That's definitely not true, but I like the job I have right now. I… really like my job, and I'd like to keep it, so if you don't mind--"  
  
"Get out of my way!" Suu said, pushing Motoko to the side before leaping on the man, wrapping her arms and legs around him, their faces inches apart. "Take me, you gorgeous hunk of man!"  
  
"Hey!" Shinobu said. "Who said you'd be first?"  
  
"And who do you think should be first?"  
  
"Me, of course."  
  
"NO WAY!!" The other girls yelled.  
  
"It was my idea, so I should go first!" Alicia said.  
  
"Fuck you!" Kitsune said.  
  
"I'm glad you agree." Suddenly, a pillow hit Alicia in the face. "Alright, who was that?" She looked to find Naru wielding a pillow, ready to strike again. "So, it's going to be like that, huh?" She grabbed a pillow of her own and swung, but Naru dodged her shot and she ended up hitting Kitsune instead.  
  
"Oh, you'll pay for that," Kitsune said. In almost no time at all, a war began among all the girls. This battle went on for a few minutes until they heard the door slam. Looking around, they found that their subject was nowhere to be seen. They all looked at each other, then the door, back to each other, and they all busted out laughing.  
  
"Oh man," Naru said after a while. "Did you see how he squirmed?"  
  
"Yeah," Alicia said. "Now I know why Kitsune used to do stuff like that to me so often. Torturing people just never gets old, does it?"  
  
"No way," Kitsune said. "Not in a million years."  
  
"I never thought I'd ever see you act that way, Shinobu," Motoko said.  
  
"Being around Sean for so long has taught me how to improvise," Shinobu explained. "Though the icing on the cake was Suu jumping him."  
  
"Aw," Suu said, holding the back of her head. "It was nothing."  
  
"It's a good thing Keitaro wasn't here, or something in this room would be covered in blood by now. Where is he, anyway?"  
  
"We had him spend the night over at Jimmy's," Motoko said. "We wanted this celebration to involve just us girls."  
  
"I see your point,"  
  
"Besides," Kitsune said. "It won't be Keitaro's anniversary for another three weeks."  
  
"What should we do next?" Naru asked.  
  
"Let's see what's on television," Kitsune said, reaching for the remote.  
  
"I think I have a better idea," Alicia said.  
  
"And what's that?" Kitsune turned around just in time to get knocked upside the head by a pillow. "Oh, you're asking for it."  
  
"Am I now?" And so, the battle resumed anew…  
  
---  
  
"I wonder what the girls are up to," Keitaro asked as he and Jimmy ate breakfast.  
  
"Not sure," Jimmy said. "Though when they asked me if you could stay over, they said that they were planning something for Sean."  
  
"Why didn't they want me around?"  
  
"They didn't say, but I can think of a few things that might be going on. From what I hear, you're prone to nosebleeds in certain situations."  
  
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with--" Keitaro finally got it. "Oh my."  
  
"I wish we could be there. I'm sure it would be a sight to see." Seeing Keitaro run out of the room, holding his nose, caused him to start laughing. "You think so too, huh?"  
  
---  
  
After fifteen minutes of constant mêlée, a truce was finally called; mostly because everyone had become too exhausted to continue. "Okay," Alicia said. "Let's move on to something less physically demanding."  
  
"Anyone have any suggestions?" Naru asked.  
  
"I have an idea," Kitsune said, a grin forming. "Truth or dare, anyone?"  
  
The internal reactions to Kitsune's idea varied greatly from girl to girl. Shinobu in particular got very nervous. Granted, she had never actually played the game before, but she had heard stories from classmates who did. "That does sound interesting," Alicia said, much to everyone's surprise. "But if you don't mind, may I make a slight adjustment?"  
  
"Sure, what did you have in mind?"  
  
"I think we should take out the dare part of the game." Shinobu seemed relieved upon hearing this.  
  
"Why? That's the best part of the game."  
  
"Because there's not a whole lot any of us could think of that we haven't already done, and the things we do think of might really get us in trouble."  
  
"What are you, a wuss?"  
  
"I think the truths might be entertaining enough, don't you?"  
  
Kitsune gave the matter a bit of thought. "Well, since it's your day, I'll agree to your terms… for now."  
  
"So, who wants to go first?" Alicia asked.  
  
"You should have the honors," Shinobu said.  
  
"If you insist. Now let's see…" She glanced around the room at each girl, who all were curious and a bit worried about what might be going through her head. "Motoko…" she said after a minute of thought. "Why do I turn you on?"  
  
That simple question came as a shock to everyone, especially the one who had to answer it. "What?" Motoko asked.  
  
"I'll elaborate. Remember that night way back when the relationship between you, Naru and Keitaro was just starting? You approached me, saying you had… certain needs? Well, what sparked the train of thought that led to what happened that night?"  
  
"Nice," Kitsune thought, her grin growing wider. "I had often wondered about that myself."  
  
Motoko's face was a bright shade of red. She cleared her throat before she began. "For as long as I can remember, I've thought that I could handle anything that came my way. I felt that I wouldn't need any help with anything and that accepting help was in a way a sign of weakness. When you first showed up, I wanted to get rid of you in any way possible, as I thought you were just a weak, perverted man."  
  
"I figured that much."  
  
"Well, my whole outlook on you changed that day you fought Shonoko. It was then that you showed all of us just how strong you really were. You stared death right in the face and I couldn't do anything to help you."  
  
"In the end, it was our combined efforts that won the day."  
  
"Yes, but it was you who led the charge. I don't how it came about; whether it was you revealing your strength as a warrior, you reverting back to your old benevolent self right away or the kiss you gave me, but my feelings for you began on that day. At first, I thought it was simple admiration and the want to see more of what you were capable of, but I eventually realized that they were more… mature than I gave them credit for."  
  
"Why didn't you say anything sooner?"  
  
"I had never felt such emotions before, and I couldn't bring up the strength to tell you; especially after you and Shinobu got together. Therefore, I kept my feelings contained and, until that night, I was successful. If I didn't approach you when I did, I don't know what I would have done--or how much longer I would have lasted."  
  
"Wow," Naru thought. "She had feelings for him for that long?"  
  
"I should thank you," Motoko continued. "I now know that I can show such emotion and not feel vulnerable."  
  
"You certainly lasted longer than I did," Kitsune said.  
  
"So I heard. Now that it's brought up, when did you start having dirty thoughts of our landlord?"  
  
"I think we know the answer to that one already," Alicia said.  
  
"I had a thing for him from day one," Kitsune answered, ignoring Alicia's commentary. "That was your question. Now, who shall I choose to be my victim?" She scanned the room until her gaze fell on her target. "This might be interesting," she thought. "Shinobu, this one's coming at you."  
  
"Alright," Shinobu said, preparing for the worst.  
  
"You and Sean have been a couple for a while. Just how far have you two gone together? You know, had any intimate moments?"  
  
"Kitsune!" Naru said. "How can you ask her something like that?!"  
  
"Naru, don't," Shinobu said, surprising everyone except Alicia.  
  
"But Shinobu--"  
  
"It's alright." Shinobu looked at Alicia, who nodded, giving her the go ahead. "To answer your question, Kitsune, yes we have."  
  
"You have?" Kitsune asked; she couldn't figure out what surprised her more, Shinobu's response or the confidence in her tone. "If I may ask a follow up question, whose idea was it?"  
  
Shinobu looked at Alicia again. "Do you want to explain it or should I?"  
  
"It's your question," Alicia said. "Besides, you know better than I do."  
  
"Alright, then." By now, Shinobu had everyone's undivided attention. "It all began over a week before Sean's birthday. Naru, Motoko, Kitsune and I already had the plans for the triple birthday under way. Sure, that celebration alone might have been enough, but as Sean's girlfriend, I felt I needed to do something more."  
  
"And that's what you came up with?" Naru asked. She glared at Alicia. "How can you live with doing such things with someone so young?"  
  
"That's the thing," Alicia said in her defense. "The situation was… unique, to say the least."  
  
"Care to explain further?"  
  
"It's kinda hard to put into words right now." After a moment of thought, Alicia placed a hand on Shinobu's shoulder. "You think you can cast that spell again?"  
  
"But we promised that--"  
  
"I know what we promised, but I see no other way to explain it that they'll believe."  
  
"If you say so," Shinobu said reluctantly.  
  
"This just keeps getting better and better," Kitsune thought.  
  
Everyone watched in silence as Shinobu prepared to cast her spell. All of a sudden, the young sorceress began to glow and, to everyone's amazement, began to grow. A few moments went by and the glow faded, revealing an older-looking Shinobu.  
  
"Wow," Suu said.  
  
"No kidding," Kitsune added.  
  
"When I woke up the morning of my birthday," Alicia said. "I found Shinobu in my room with me. Like now, she turned into this older form before my very eyes and quickly making her intentions known. How could I say no?"  
  
It took a little while for this info to sink in. Motoko was the first one to regain her senses. "Are you saying that the two of you--"  
  
"What Sean and I did together," Shinobu interrupted. "was the same as what he has done with you and Kitsune."  
  
"Yes," Alicia said. "We ended up being together for the next hour; just two girls enjoying each other's company--among other things."  
  
"But why did you do this, Shinobu?" Naru asked.  
  
"In our normal forms," Alicia said. "Our age difference is a full ten years. In the bodies we have now, that gap is cut down to one."  
  
"I knew that how old he was and how young I was would be an obstacle to overcome in our relationship," Shinobu said. "I figured that if I were able to get past that barrier--even for a short time--it would help greatly. I would like to think that it has."  
  
"And in case you're wondering," Alicia added. "We've done nothing like that before that day or since."  
  
"Have you ever had any urges since that morning?" Motoko asked.  
  
Shinobu shook her head. "That experience actually made me more willing to wait until I grew into this body the right way; it gave me something to look forward to."  
  
"Speaking of which," Alicia said. "I think you should turn back to normal before I get any ideas." This was already the case, but she didn't want to reveal that to the others, and she hoped her body wouldn't give it away.  
  
Shinobu started to glow and shrank back down to her original size. "It's my turn to ask somebody a question, right?"  
  
"Yep!" Suu chimed in.  
  
"Okay. Naru, it's your turn."  
  
"Fire away," Naru said, seemingly ready for anything. Well, almost anything.  
  
Shinobu sported a very uncharacteristically evil grin. "How far have you and Keitaro gone together? Have you two gone all the way?"  
  
Naru started to blush. "Are you serious?"  
  
"Very serious."  
  
"HA HA!" Kitsune laughed. "There's no way you can escape the question this time! Spill it! What have you two been up to?"  
  
"Oh man," Alicia thought, crossing her legs on reflex. "At this rate, this is going to be a very long day."  
  
--- 12:14 PM  
  
"Oh man," Keitaro said. He and Jimmy had been playing a few rounds of Halo, and for Keitaro, let's just say that Swiss cheese doesn't quite describe it well enough. "How did you get so good at this game?"  
  
"I've been playing for years," Jimmy said. "Where are you going?"  
  
"I'm going to call the hotel and check up on the girls." Keitaro picked up the receiver and dialed the number of the hotel. After being connected to Sean's room, he heard the phone ring a couple times before someone answered it.  
  
"Hello?"  
  
"Hey, Naru."  
  
"Hi, Keitaro! What's up?"  
  
"Nothing much. How are things going on your end?"  
  
"Pretty good."  
  
All of a sudden Alicia's voice could be heard in the background. "That's it! I can't take it any more!" More voices could he heard shortly there after.  
  
"What's going on?" Keitaro asked. "Is Sean alright?"  
  
"He'll be fine," Naru said, trying to drown out the moaning that had begun. "He's in good hands. Sorry, can't chat anymore. See ya!"  
  
"Wait," Keitaro said. "When can I see you again?"  
  
"After dinner!" Naru quickly hung up the phone.  
  
"What are they up to?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Somehow," Keitaro said, hanging up the phone. "I have the feeling I don't want to find out."  
  
End of Chapter XLVI   
  
See you next time! Please R&R! 


	49. Ch47: Home Again, Home Again

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.

Well, after a slight case of writer's block, I'm back with yet another chapter in my epic story.

Chapter XLVII: Home Again, Home Again

Tuesday, 7/1 7:14 AM

Of the three people who shared the room, Shinobu was the first to wake up that morning. She quietly got out of bed and walked out onto the balcony. "What a beautiful morning," she thought, looking out at the ocean. "And a great view. I'm certainly going to miss it when we go back to Hinata-Sou." She went back into the room and saw that both Kitsune and Sean were still sound asleep. "Might as well get my shower done while I still can." In her experience sharing the hotel room, she knew that if she was third in line for the bathroom, she could be in for a bit of a wait; especially if the other two were in there together.

Shinobu entered the bathroom and turned on the shower. "Enjoy it while you can, Kitsune," she thought as she removed her nightgown and admired herself in the mirror. "When I come of age, I'll give you a run for her money, just you wait and see." Shinobu stepped into the shower. "Meeting Sean was the best thing that ever happened to me. If it wasn't for him, I'd probably still be as shy as I ever was. Outside of my cooking, I'd have almost no self-confidence, my grades would be horrible and I'd still be overly jealous of the other girls' bodies. Well, maybe I still am a bit jealous, but I know that my time will come and I'll be just as mature-looking and developed as they are. To think, my transformation began with Sean running into Mutsumi that one day. If that never happened, I might have never gotten the courage to approach him and my uncertainty would be tearing me up inside because of it. I should really thank her next time I see her."

Shinobu's happy self-reflection was interrupted was she heard the bathroom door open. Poking her head through the shower curtain, she saw who her visitor was. "Good morning, Kitsune," she said.

"Well," Kitsune said. "Somebody's cheerful this morning."

"I was thinking of how Sean has changed my life for the better."

"He's had an impact in all our lives. Want me to get your back for you?"

"Sure." Shinobu handed Kitsune her washcloth. "Thanks."

"No problem," Kitsune said as she started washing the younger girl's back, staying outside the shower in doing so.

"Kitsune, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"I couldn't help but notice that ever since we got here, you and Sean have been more… active than usual; more than you ever were back home."

"I think I know where this is going," Kitsune said. "And it's a pretty simple explanation."

"I'm listening."

"You remember the last time you two shared a bed, right?"

"How could I forget?"

"Then you also recall the effect it had on him. I had a feeling that it might happen again while we're here, and I just wanted to keep his hormones in check."

"Don't you think that he'd come to you if he was feeling that way?"

"You know as well as I do that he hardly ever voices his problems to anyone. Think about it; back then, he only brought it up when he was at wit's end and after Motoko and I tried to force ourselves on him. Him keeping his troubles bottled up inside is also why we're out here in the first place. If I didn't take some preventive measures, who else would?"

Shinobu didn't respond; she knew Kitsune had a good point.

"You may not believe me when I say this," Kitsune said. "but I actually envy you."

"You're right," Shinobu said. "I don't believe you, and why should I? You're older than me, you've got the looks, not to mention the fact that you're screwing my boyfriend."

"Yes, but at least you have a boyfriend. What Sean and I have is a purely physical thing, not matter how I wish it wasn't true. You have that little extra something with him I'll never have, and when you feel the time is right, I'll step aside and let you take over. I can only imagine what will happen to me when that time comes. I don't know what came over us back on Valentine's and that last lust potion incident, but I can assure you that none of us have any intentions of taking him away from you."

"Thank you." Kitsune had long since finished with Shinobu's back, and she moved to rinse herself off.

"You looking forward to going home today?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah. This place is nice, but it's not quite like home."

"You said it. As soon as we get back, I'm hitting the hot spring."

"I think I'll join you." Shinobu stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. "Alright, I'm all done." As she dried herself off, she watched Kitsune get ready for her shower. She found her eyes being drawn to the older girl's chest; this didn't go unnoticed by Kitsune.

"Like what you see?"

Shinobu quickly turned away, blushing. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"Don't worry about it," Kitsune said with a laugh. "I'm used to it. If I'm not mistaken, you've been growing a bit lately."

Shinobu's eyes lit up. "You really think so?"

"I'm sure of it. I've known you for a couple years now, and I can definitely see a difference."

Shinobu looked at herself in the mirror. Her breasts were still quite small--especially in comparison to Kitsune's--but there was something there. "I wonder how big they'll get."

"That, I can't say," Kitsune said. "We'll see as you get older."

"I look forward to it." Wrapping herself in the towel, she left the bathroom to give Kitsune some privacy. As she headed for her suitcase, she noticed Sean sitting at the edge of the bed, talking on his hand-phone.

"Yeah… Well, she probably just misses me 'cuz she doesn't have anyone to beat up on… Hmm, is that right?… Well, I look forward to meeting her… Alright, we'll be there around 8:00… you too. See you then."

"Who was that?" Shinobu asked.

"I was just letting Haruka know when we'll get back. As it turns out, there'll be a new girl waiting for us when we do. Haruka let her move in already."

"Did she say who it was?"

"No. I wonder what she'll be like. After being around you girls for so long, I've come to expect the unexpected."

"I certainly pays to be open-minded."

"No kidding." Sean got up and walked toward one of the doors that connected rooms and knocked a few times. "Naru? Keitaro? You awake in there?" The only response he got was some unintelligible nonsense from the other side of the door. Without thinking, Sean opened the door to a somewhat startling, somewhat amusing sight. "Oh man," he thought, unable to wipe the grin off his face. "Methinks I've walked in on something I shouldn't have." Naru and Keitaro were in the same bed. From his vantage point, he couldn't tell if they were clothed or not, but one can assume.

"SEAN!!" Naru yelled, throwing a pillow at him, hitting him square in the face. "How dare you barge in like this!"

"At least I knocked first."

"That's not the point! Why are you here?!"

"I was just going to tell you two something, but I think it can wait. Um, should I bother asking why you're wearing each other's glasses?"

"I'd rather you didn't," Keitaro said. His face was as red as a tomato.

"I figured as much. I'll leave you two alone." Sean tossed the pillow back to them and returned to his own room, closing the door behind him.

"What were they doing?" A half-dressed Shinobu asked.

"Don't know, don't care." Sean walked to the door on the other side of the room. "Let's see what's behind door number two." He entered the room shared by Motoko and Suu to find neither of them present. "I wonder where they're at," he thought. His question was quickly answered when the bathroom door opened and Suu came out, a towel wrapped around her.

"Hey, Sean!" Suu yelled, as she tackled him. This was hardly different from any other day, and it wouldn't have been cause for concern if it wasn't for her current state of dress. "What brings you here this morning?" she asked, sporting an innocent look. "You gonna try and take advantage of poor defenseless me?"

"Very funny, Suu," Sean said, obviously not amused. Apparently, he found the idea of Suu being defenseless very hard to believe. "Could you get off, please?"

"Alright," Suu said with a giggle as she half-bounded to her suitcase. "Seriously, did you need something?"

"I was going to tell everyone when we're going to head back home." Sean looked around as he got up. Motoko was still nowhere to be seen. "Motoko out with Jimmy again?"

"Probably."

"Only one way to find out for sure." Sean quickly dialed a couple numbers on his hand. "Good thing I have Jimmy's cell phone number on speed dial." The phone would ring a couple times before someone answered it.

"Hello?" Jimmy said on the other line.

"Hey, Jimmy," Sean said, ignoring the fact that Suu was changing right in front of him.

"How you doin'?"

"Pretty good. Is Motoko there?"

"Yeah; you want to talk to her?"

"No, that's alright. Just tell her that we'll be heading for home at quarter to six."

"You're finally heading home, huh?"

"Yeah. We'll meet you at your place."

"Alright, see you then."

"You too." Sean hung up his phone. "Well," he thought as he retreated beck into his room. "At least that's all taken care of. I'm sure Motoko's in good hands."

"Sean?" Shinobu asked. She was now fully clothed.

"Yeah?"

"I just want to say that I loved the time I spent here."

"I did too."

Shinobu quickly hugged Sean. "If we hadn't come looking for you, I don't know how long I could have waited for you to come back on your own."

Sean returned the embrace. "To be honest, I probably would have come back in a few days' time; a week at the most."

"Why's that?"

"Even after everything Suu and Sarah do to me, I couldn't stay away for long. I would have missed you all too much--or assumed the other way around. Besides, knowing me, I wouldn't have done nearly as much by myself as I did with all of you. Probably the most entertaining thing I might have come up with on my own is to go to a club as a girl and see how many guys hit on me or something like that."

"I'm glad we could make your vacation better."

"Me too."

"Get a room, you two," Kitsune said, as she watched the couple kiss from the bathroom door.

"We already have one," Sean said.

"Yeah," Shinobu said. "Why don't you go get a boyfriend?"

"Keep saying it, and I might just do that," Kitsune said, eyeing Sean.

"But I thought you said--" Shinobu started to say.

"Calm down, I'm only kidding."

"That's not something one should joke about," Sean said.

"You're one to talk about having a sick sense of humor. Now, what should we do on our last day here?"

"I'm thinking we should just relax today. Considering we'll be arriving home at around 8:00 tomorrow morning, maybe we should even get some sleep later on."

"Sounds like a day at the beach to me," Kitsune said. "And I'm not complaining. Let's see what Keitaro and Naru think of that idea."

"Wait, don't…!" Sean started to say, but it was too late. Kitsune was already at the door. She opened it and two screams rang out from inside. "Here we go again," he thought, rolling his eyes.

---

While the others were relaxing on the beach, Motoko and Jimmy spent the whole day cruising around town on Jimmy's motorcycle. At first, Motoko was wary of being on such a thing, but a few words of assurance and a couple trips around the block eased her tension. Oh, there also the fact that she was almost required to be in close contact while Jimmy was driving; something she didn't mind in the least.

Ever since the two hooked up almost a month before, they had ridden around town many times. Sometimes the others accompanied them in Jimmy's truck, sometimes they were by themselves, but the fact that they were together was all that mattered to them. Over time, they had become almost inseparable. Unfortunately, the time eventually came for them to part ways, though it was obvious neither of them were looking forward to it.

--- 5:40 PM

A certain motorcycle rode onto a certain driveway with a certain couple riding on it. When it came to a stop, a woman got off and removed her helmet, revealing a certain swordswoman, though there was something different about her. Normally, when around Jimmy, Motoko could hardly keep the smile from her face, but today, it seemed as though all the happiness had been sucked out of her.

As Jimmy got off the motorcycle, he noticed the distressed look on Motoko's face. He didn't have to ask to know what was going on in her mind; any minute, she was going to leave, and neither of them knew if they'd ever see each other again. He knew how she felt; he didn't want her to leave either, but he knew that this wasn't her home. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a comforting manner. "C'mon," he said. "I'm sure the others are waiting for you."

"I know," Motoko said, barely able to keep from crying. "It's just that…"

"Don't worry," Jimmy said. "I'm sure we'll see each other again."

"You think so?"

"If what we have is real, we'll be back together eventually."

Motoko hugged Jimmy tightly. "I'm going to miss you so much!!"

Jimmy returned the favor. "I will too."

The others watched the scene unfold from inside. "The next few weeks are going to be hard on her," Sean said. "I hope she can pull through."

"As long as she has us around," Naru said. "I'm sure she'll be fine."

"Or maybe it'll just appear that way."

It was plain to see that both Jimmy and Motoko wanted to stay in that embrace forever, but common sense forced them to separate. Hand in hand, they went inside. "Alright," Motoko said. "I think I'm ready."

"Then let's go," Sean said. He and Shinobu held hands and within moments, they began to glow.

"Later!" Jimmy said. Everyone but the wizards responded in kind.

"I'll call you when we get home," Motoko added.

Before Jimmy could respond, the group was engulfed in a globe of energy. He looked on in awe as the sphere shrank and flew out the still open door. Following suit, he watched the ball rise high into the sky, then shoot off into the western skies. "Amazing," was all he could say.

--- Local time: Wednesday, 7/2 7:54 AM

"When are they going to get here?" Sarah half-complained and she and Haruka stood outside the tea shop. She was loath to admit it, but she had missed everyone since they left for Myrtle Beach.

"It should be any minute now," Haruka calmly said. Like Sarah, she was inwardly anxious for them to arrive, but unlike her daughter, she planned on giving them a serious talking to about going somewhere half a world away without letting her, much less anyone else, know about it, even though she knew the reason why.

All of a sudden, a orb of light appeared from over the tea shop behind them. After it made contact with the ground, it vanished, allowing Sarah and Haruka to see the familiar group of seven. "Well," Sean said. "Here we are."

"And none too soon, either," Haruka muttered.

"Yeah," Naru said, holding the back of her head. "We're sorry you had to find out about our leaving the hard way, but somebody was supposed to fill you in beforehand."

"I knew I forgot something," Keitaro said after Naru shot him a look. "Sorry, Aunt Haruka."

Haruka rose her fan to smack him, but Sean beat her to the punch, slapping him in the back of the head. "Just Haruka," they both said in unison.

Ever since they got there, Motoko had been increasingly restless. "If you'll excuse me," she said, unable to contain herself any longer. "There's something I need to take care of." She started to make a dash for the front door, but Kitsune's hand taking hold of the back of her shirt kept her from getting anywhere.

"Calm down, girl," Kitsune said. "The phone won't be going anywhere any time soon. Besides, nobody told him how long the trip would take."

"We're going to go unpack," Shinobu said as everyone started towards Hinata-Sou, with Kitsune keeping a tight grip on Motoko.

"Hey, Sean," Sarah said, nervousness apparent in her voice.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I don't know exactly how to say this, but--"

"You know what?" Sean interrupted. "Don't worry about it. As far as I'm concerned, it's water under the bridge."

"Thanks."

"No sweat. You know, you're pretty cute when you're blushing like that."

That comment caused Sarah's already red face to grow brighter. Not knowing what to say to that, she ran into the tea shop.

"It's good to have you back," Haruka said with a chuckle.

"It's good to be back. See you later!" Sean jogged a bit and caught up with the others just as they reached the front door.

It seemed as though almost everyone had something planned upon their return. The first one to act was Motoko, who made a beeline for the phone to call Jimmy. Sean shook his head as he passed by. "I'm going to have to set up a hand phone for her so she doesn't run up our phone bill," he thought. He made his way upstairs and was about to enter his room when Shinobu approached her.

"Hey, Sean," she said. "Kitsune and I are going out to the hot springs. Want to come with us?"

Sean responded by tossing his suitcase into his room and turning into Alicia. "Lead the way," she said.

Shinobu and Alicia headed for the changing room, where Kitsune was waiting for them. "So you decided to join us," Kitsune said.

"Of course," Alicia said. "It's been way too long since we've been out in the hot spring."

"I hear that." The three girls stripped out of their clothes, grabbed some towels, walked out into the hot spring area and were surprised by who was already there.

"Hello," the cheery girl said, waving to them.

"Hey, Mutsumi," Alicia said. "What brings you here?"

"Didn't Haruka tell you?" Mutsumi asked. "I'm the new tenant."

"Is that right?"

"Yep. How was your trip?"

---

Keitaro was midway through the task of unpacking when the trapdoor above him opened, but since he was facing away from it, he was unaware of it until a certain girl was inches away from him.

"Keitaro?" Naru asked, startling Keitaro.

"Yeah, Naru?" Keitaro said after his heart rate slowed a bit.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it?"

Naru walked over to the closet and, after a bit of searching, found a sketchbook. "Why didn't you tell me about this?"

Keitaro started to panic. "How did you find out about that?!"

"You know how sneaky Sean can be. He's been looking at your drawings for a while now. He told me about this the day we found him. Now, answer my question."

"I was worried about how you'd react."

"Well, let me see what I'm dealing with, here." Naru started flipping through the book and was amazed at what she saw. "Wow," she thought. "Sean was right. This can't be put into words." Inside the book was a variety of drawings. All of them were of Naru in a variety of poses and outfits, some more revealing than others. In some of them, she even sported angel wings. When she had looked at all of them, she turned her gaze to Keitaro, who looked almost ready to be executed. "Keitaro, I have only one thing to say to you."

"Y-Yeah?"

"If you wanted a model for your drawings so badly," Naru said as she tossed the sketchbook at him. "You should have just asked."

"So you're not mad?"

"Let me put it too you this way."

"Where are you going?" Keitaro asked as Naru walked towards the door.

"Making sure we aren't interrupted," Naru said, locking the door. "I'm going to give you something you draw about." Keitaro was unaware of the sketchbook falling out of his hands as Naru planted a kiss right on the lips. "What do you say we finish what we started?"

---

While Naru and Keitaro were… enjoying each other's company, someone was outside, watching them with binoculars. "Enjoy your time with him while you can, Naru," Kanako thought. "For when the time is right, I will make my move and you will be out of the picture. Mark my words; he will be mine."

End of Chapter XLVII

And so, the group returns home and everything returns to normal... for now. See you next time! Please R&R!


	50. Ch48: Menace to Society

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Another 5 days, another chapter made.  
  
Chapter XLVIII: Menace to Society  
  
Thursday, 7/3 6:43 AM  
  
Shinobu woke up with the sun that morning; it took a few moments to remember where she was. "Ah," she said as she stretched her limbs. "It's good to be home again. Not to mention sleeping in my own room for a change. As much as I love spending my nights with Sean, I do need some time to myself." She smiled as she recalled her memories of the vacation in Myrtle Beach; of her snuggled up close to her love every night. "Even so, my time alone won't last too long, of that I can be sure."  
  
As she changed out of her pajamas and into her day clothes, her thoughts wandered to what she should make for breakfast--something she hasn't had to do in the last month. This caused her to smile once again, knowing that things were getting back to their regular routine.  
  
Shinobu walked out into the hallway, stopping in front of Sean's door. "Hmm," she thought. "Should I? Hehe, why not?" Shinobu opened the door, intending to give him a wake up call, but ended up receiving one herself. Normally, in a situation like this, Shinobu would scream, making the others come running. However, here and now, she found herself unable to say anything. Maybe she was too much in shock; maybe, subconsciously, she didn't want the others to find out; that she could deal with this on her own. Whatever the reason was, instead of acting out, she merely closed the door and continued on her way. Before she made it to the kitchen, she ran into Motoko.  
  
"Hello, Shinobu," Motoko said. Right away, she noticed the blank expression on the young girl's face. "Is something wrong?" Without a word, Shinobu glanced at Motoko and walked by, en route to the kitchen. "I wonder what's troubling her," Motoko couldn't help but think.  
  
"I can't tell them anything," Shinobu thought as she entered the kitchen. "If any of them find out, there's no telling what they'd do to him." Tears started rolling down her cheeks. "This is a personal matter, and I have to deal with this myself."  
  
--- 7:12 AM  
  
As soon as Sean woke up, he was aware of an arm draped across his chest. He assumed it was Shinobu, but when he opened his eyes, he saw just how wrong he was. Laying face down next to him was none other than Mutsumi, but that wasn't all; she was naked as the day she was born. "What the hell is she doing here?" he thought. Visions started appearing in his mind, letting him know what he might have done in his sleep, but he quickly shook them loose. Since he was under the blanket, while Mutsumi was on top of it, he assumed nothing had happened, but the nagging doubt just wouldn't leave for some reason. Accompanying that was questions as to how she had gotten there in the first place, and there was only one way to find out.  
  
"Hey, wake up," he whispered as he shook Mutsumi's shoulders. After a few moments, it was obvious that Mutsumi was a sound sleeper. "C'mon," he thought. "If anyone finds you in here like this, there's going to he hell to pay." If only he knew.  
  
After another minute or so of shaking, Mutsumi finally stirred. She yawned as she flipped over onto her back. Through sleepy eyes, she saw Sean kneeling over her, a worried expression on his face. "Good morning," she said, her usual ditzy grin on her face. She made no effort whatsoever to cover herself up, which only served to make things that much worse for Sean. "Have you come to formally welcome me?"  
  
"Uh, not exactly," Sean said, trying his darnedest not to look at her features.  
  
Mutsumi looked around, not recognizing the room she was in. "Where am I?"  
  
"My room."  
  
"Why am I in here?"  
  
"You tell me. You were in here when I woke up."  
  
"Oh my," Mutsumi said, holding the back of her head. "I must have been sleepwalking again."  
  
"This is just great," Sean said. "The others must be starting to wake up by now. How am I going to get you back to your room without them knowing? It's way on the other end of the house." Suddenly, it dawned on him. "There's only one sure-fire way."  
  
"What are you going to do?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"This."  
  
In an instant, Mutsumi found herself back in her own room. "Oh." In a once-in-a-lifetime event, the smile left her face and she went to pick out her clothes for the day without saying another word.  
  
---  
  
"Oh man," Sean said to himself, trying to gather his thoughts. "No matter how many times something like that happens, I can never get used to it. I can only hope nobody found her in here like that." The logic part of his brain kicked in; he figured that if somebody had walked in on them, he certainly wouldn't have been able to sleep through the scream that would have followed shortly thereafter. Having convinced himself of this, he got ready to face the day, though he couldn't have prepared himself for what would happen.  
  
---  
  
Naru and Motoko walked down the stairs; Motoko had already told Naru about Shinobu's sudden change in behavior. "Are you sure?" Naru asked.  
  
"There's no mistaking it," Motoko said. "It would take a lot to suck the happiness out of her like that."  
  
The two entered the dining room to find Shinobu there setting the table. "Hello, Shinobu," Motoko said. All Shinobu did in response is glance at them and head back to the kitchen. "See what I mean?" Motoko asked as she sat down at the table.  
  
"Yeah," Naru said, following suit. "What could have done that to her?"  
  
"Good morning," Kitsune said, entering the room.  
  
"What's good about it?" Shinobu said from the kitchen.  
  
"Damn, what got her panties in a bunch?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"We don't know," Naru said.  
  
"That's actually the first thing she's said all morning," Motoko added.  
  
Shinobu reappeared moments later with some food. It looked as though nothing would get her to smile, but that wasn't going to stop anyone from trying.  
  
"Shinobu, why are you so down this morning?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "Show us that smile. You know you want to."  
  
Shinobu just ignored them. By that time, Suu had arrived and decided to try her hand. "C'mon," she said, wrapping her arms around Shinobu's neck as she walked back to the kitchen. "Don't be grumpy!"  
  
Without a word, Shinobu turned around and looked Suu straight in the eye with a look the Suu interpreted as saying, "Let go of me or else I'll make you wish you were never born!"  
  
Suu quickly removed her arms from around Shinobu and placed them behind her back. "Or you can be as grumpy as you wanna be," she said, laughing nervously as she went back to her seat. "I think we should leave her alone for a while." Naru, Motoko and Kitsune all nodded in agreement.  
  
As Shinobu brought in the last of the food, Sean and Mutsumi showed up. "Mornin'," Sean said.  
  
"Thank God you're here," Kitsune said. "Shinobu's been little miss cranky all morning. Maybe you can do something to cheer her up."  
  
"Hmm?" Sean looked at Shinobu. She had fire in her eyes; and not in a good way. He couldn't tell if she was looking at himself or Mutsumi, but either way, he realized that his greatest fear might have just become a reality. "Today can't get much worse, can it?" he thought.  
  
"Uh oh," Motoko thought upon seeing Sean's worried expression. "This must be really bad if Sean's scared of Shinobu right now."  
  
Sean and Mutsumi sat down and everyone began eating, but only a couple minutes went by before Sean got up to leave. "Where are you going?" Naru asked. "You hardly touched your food."  
  
"I'm not that hungry this morning," Sean simply said as he walked towards the stairs, but he wouldn't make It there.  
  
"Sean?"  
  
Sean flinched upon hearing that voice. "Yes, Mutsumi?" he said, keeping his back turned.  
  
"Could you help me with something later on?"  
  
"Pray tell, what?" Sean asked, not looking forward to the answer.  
  
"I know it's still summer, but my grades weren't as good as I would have liked them to be, so I was wondering if you could help me out with some math problems."  
  
The request sounded innocent enough, but the uncomfortable silence that followed told a very different story. After another minute or two, Sean finally had an answer. "Alright," he said with a sigh. "After you're done eating, get your books and come to my room. I'll see what I can do." If Sean had turned around, he would have seen Shinobu's eye start twitching almost violently. Unlike him, everyone else saw that the young girl was a mere stone's throw away from going stark raving mad, yet they still had no idea why.  
  
"Hey," Keitaro said, entering moments after Sean had left. "Sorry I'm late. Did I miss anything?" As if he could've picked a worse day to sleep in a bit.  
  
Breakfast that morning could not have been more awkward. Shinobu kept throwing angry glances at Mutsumi for one reason or another. When both Shinobu and Mutsumi finally left, a sigh of relief rang out among the others. "Okay," Keitaro said. "That was weird."  
  
"You said it," Kitsune said. "Have any of you ever seen Shinobu like that? Ever?"  
  
"Not really," Motoko said. "I mean, I've seen her upset before, but now, it looked more like she was infuriated."  
  
"Yeah," Naru said. "She looked at Mutsumi and Sean like she wanted them dead or something. What could have gotten her so mad at them?"  
  
"I can only think of one thing," Kitsune said. "But do we really want to go down that road?"  
  
"We may have to," Motoko said. "You go see what information you can get from Sean. The rest of us will try and talk to Shinobu and Mutsumi."  
  
"Can do," Kitsune said.  
  
---  
  
The morning wore on at a snail's pace. Sean and Mutsumi worked on math problems for hours on end. After a while, Sean started to get suspicious as to Mutsumi's true intentions, as she seemed to be familiar with the subject as is; she didn't appear to need his help at all. However, he never brought it up, since he didn't wish to clutter up his mind; it was messed up enough that morning already.  
  
Meanwhile, the others searched Hinata-Sou from top to bottom, but found no trace of Shinobu. It was as if she had fallen off the face of the earth. Even when Motoko tried using her senses to track her down, the trail would only last a short while before growing cold, forcing her to start over from scratch. Eventually, they all gave up on trying to find her, figuring she needed to be alone to cool off or something.  
  
As lunchtime neared, the blue-haired cook finally showed her face; outside of using a mask, she would have had to in order to make lunch. That meal would end up being as eerie as the last. There was no conversation whatsoever, and strange glances being thrown about the room. After what felt like an eternity, the meal was over and everyone went back to what they were doing before, but Sean decided to take a trip to the hot spring to, yet again, try to sort things out. However, he hadn't been successful up to that point, and the streak would continue, as Sean would get an unexpected visitor; one itching for answers.  
  
--- 12:49 PM  
  
"Some day this turned out to be," Sean thought as he sat in the water, his eyes shut tight. "I don't even want to think about what Shinobu thinks of me right now. I'm going to have to straighten things out with her pretty quickly. Then there's Mutsumi; what's her deal? I could tell she didn't need any help with her schoolwork, so why did she ask for it? On top of that, I kept having the feeling I was being watched. Why do I think this day's going to get worse before it gets better?"  
  
"Hello, Sean."  
  
That snapped Sean out of his thoughts, but he didn't open his eyes. "What do you want, Kitsune?"  
  
"I just want to talk."  
  
"I'm sure." Sean opened his eyes to find the fox lady sitting next to him. "If you wanna talk, let's talk."  
  
"What's going on between you and Shinobu?"  
  
"It's none of your concern."  
  
"When two of my friends start acting that way, it becomes my concern. What did you do to make her so mad at you?"  
  
"It's more like what she thinks I did."  
  
"Does it have something to do with Mutsumi?"  
  
"You can say that."  
  
"Care to give any details?"  
  
"This is something I have to take care of myself. Don't get involved."  
  
While the two were talking in the hot spring, they were unaware of a certain someone watching them from the roof, binoculars in hand. "I wish I could read lips," Shinobu thought. "First Mutsumi, now Kitsune. What is he up to?"  
  
"I finally found you," Suu suddenly said from the stairs, startling Shinobu a bit. "What are you looking at?"  
  
Shinobu didn't want Suu to know that she was spying on Sean. Therefore, she quickly searched for anything that might be of interest. "Someone's moving into that apartment building over there."  
  
"Really? Lemme see." Shinobu handed Suu the binoculars. Sure enough, there was a moving van there, and some men were carrying boxes of varying sizes inside.  
  
"That should keep her preoccupied for a while," Shinobu thought, turning her attention back to the hot spring. Kitsune was still there, but Sean was nowhere to be seen. "Alright, now where did he go?" Shinobu ran back inside, where Sean just happened to be waiting for her.  
  
"You refuse to speak to me, yet you watch my every move," Sean said as he leaned against the wall, his arms crossed. "What are you trying to prove?"  
  
"I think you know exactly what's going on."  
  
"I think you're misinformed. Come with me."  
  
"He must be trying to clear his name," Shinobu thought as she followed Sean to his room where, much to her surprise, Mutsumi was waiting patiently for them. "Why is she here?"  
  
"Mutsumi and I want to set the record straight," Sean said. "Nothing happened between me and her." Mutsumi nodded in agreement.  
  
"Then how do you explain her being in your bed this morning?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I have a bit of a history of sleepwalking," Mutsumi said. "I could have come here overnight without realizing it."  
  
"How do you expect me to believe that?"  
  
"I have proof," Sean said.  
  
"You do?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"You do?" Mutsumi repeated. Sean went into his video vault and came out shortly thereafter, disk in hand. "What is that?"  
  
"Surveillance from last night. This will show us what really happened."  
  
Shinobu started to feel a bit better at this point. "Maybe I did jump to conclusions," she thought. "If he did what I had suspected, why would he show it to me?" Mutsumi was smiling as she always was, but this time, it seemed a bit forced.  
  
Sean put the DVD in his laptop and the screen displayed the third floor hallway in the dead of night. The three watched on as a door opened and Mutsumi's head poked out. After checking to see if anyone else was around, she stepped out into the hall, exposing her naked body to the audience she didn't know she had at the time.  
  
"Now," Sean said. "I'm no expert on the subject, but I seriously doubt people sleepwalk with their eyes open."  
  
The camera followed Mutsumi as she went down a flight of stairs, constantly looking around, as if someone would find her out at any time. Stopping at Sean's door, she opened it as quietly as possible, so as not to wake him up. She tip-toed her way to where his sleeping form laid. For a few moments, she kneeled over him, as if debating whether or not to proceed further. Taking a risk, she stroked her hand gently against his cheek, snatching it away quickly when he stirred a bit, but after a few moments without waking up, she allowed herself a breath of relief. Gathering her courage once again, she laid herself down next to Sean, where she would soon fall asleep and the next morning, be discovered by both Sean and Shinobu.  
  
"Well," Sean said, genuinely surprised. "I wasn't expecting that."  
  
"At least I know Sean's innocent," Shinobu thought. "Mutsumi, why? Why did you sneak in here like that?"  
  
Tears started to form in Mutsumi's eyes. "I… I…" Unable to contain herself any longer, she buried her face in Shinobu's chest. "I'm so sorry! I never meant to cause so much trouble for everyone!"  
  
Shinobu was suddenly overcome with compassion. Who knew Mutsumi felt the way she did? "Ever since I met Sean," Mutsumi continued. "He just seemed to get cuter and cuter every time I saw him. It made me regret the choices I made. Throwing you away was the biggest mistake of my life; it didn't take me long to figure that out."  
  
"Well," Sean said. "That explains why you snuck into my room last night and asking for my help with your schoolwork this morning when it was obvious you didn't need it."  
  
"Yeah. I just wanted to be close to you in any way I could. I wasn't trying to split you two apart or anything, and I never intended on anyone finding out. I hope you can forgive me."  
  
"Consider it done," Shinobu said.  
  
"You mean it?"  
  
"Of course," Sean said. "We all make mistakes; I should know. Besides, if you hadn't made that so-called mistake, Shinobu would no doubt be worse off than you are now. Speaking of which, I'm surprised at you."  
  
"At me?" Shinobu said. "Why?"  
  
"I would have thought that you'd be able to trust me just a little bit more than that. We've been together for about a year, and as far as temptation is concerned, I've gone through hell and back, yet I remained faithful. I'm not about to screw that up now!"  
  
"I'm sorry," Shinobu said. "I don't know what came over me. I guess the thought of you and Mutsumi being together just beings out the worst in me."  
  
"I promise I won't try anything like that ever again," Mutsumi said.  
  
"You're not the only one who's felt that way towards me." Sean got up and crept toward the door, confusing the other two. "Kitsune and, for a while, Motoko have made some advances on me in the past. You think it's easy resisting them like I have to? I'm lucky not to be aroused 24 hours a day. If I was, I would have given in long ago and WHY ARE YOU PEOPLE RIGHT OUTSIDE MY DOOR?!"  
  
The door opened to reveal Kitsune, Keitaro, Motoko and Naru. "How did you know we were out here?" Naru asked.  
  
"You should know better than to be sneaky around me."  
  
"Uh, sorry," Kitsune said. "But he is right, Mutsumi. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't have him. I've had to move on, and you have to do the same."  
  
"I'll try," Mutsumi said. "Though it might be hard at first."  
  
"Alright," Sean said. "I think we've had just about enough tension for one day. If you don't mind, I'd like some alone time with Shinobu."  
  
"Of course," Motoko said. "Let's see if we can find Suu."  
  
"Try the roof," Shinobu said. "That's where she was last time I saw her."  
  
"Thanks." With that, the door closed, leaving the couple alone together.  
  
"That sort of thing should never happen," Sean said, hugging Shinobu.  
  
"You said it," Shinobu said, returning the embrace.  
  
The movie continued to play, and Sean's voice could be heard. "Oh, Shinobu," the sleeping Sean said.  
  
"Hmm?" Shinobu turned to look at the screen. "What going on there?"  
  
"Even with all that went on, I was still dreaming about you."  
  
"And what were we doing in your dream?"  
  
"Um," Sean said, his face starting to turn red. "I don't remember."  
  
"I think I know how I can make you remember," Shinobu said, an evil grin on her face. Moment's later, sounds of Sean laughing rang out form his room, caused by his girlfriend's tickle torture.  
  
End of Chapter XLVIII  
  
See you next time! Please R&R! 


	51. Ch49: Requests and Reconaissance

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but me and my other OCs are mine.  
  
Sorry this one took so long, but as you can see, this is a monster of a chapter. Get ready for a marathon; try to keep up.  
  
Chapter IL: Requests and Reconnaissance  
  
"I give up. There's nothing else I can do."  
  
"Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes, I'm sure! I've tried everything I can think of, and nothing's worked!"  
  
"You tried your best, I'm sure, but there has to be some way to--hmm…"  
  
"What are you thinking?"  
  
"I think I may have found the answer."  
  
"What's that look on your face for? Don't tell me you're actually going do to THAT!"  
  
"You have a better plan? This whole thing was your idea to begin with."  
  
"I know that, but--"  
  
"Then let's at least try this. You never know, it might actually work."  
  
"Well, alright, but you do it. I don't want any part of it."  
  
"Suit yourself."  
  
The coming days signaled a return to the regular events that frequented Hinata-Sou. Shinobu and Mutsumi were on more friendly terms than ever before. Naru and Keitaro were as close as ever, making everyone curious as to what was going on behind the scenes. Kitsune, after getting a talking to at the newspaper for pretty much going AWOL, savored what little spare time she could get. Motoko tried to focus her energy on her training, but thoughts of Jimmy would always pop up. Granted, thanks to E-mail and phone calls, they had ways to keep in contact with each other, but Motoko wished to see him face to face. Despite trying not showing her grief, it was obvious to everyone around her. Sean resumed his duties as landlord, each day thankful to have lived through the last, though he would gladly go through physical torture as opposed to the emotional variety.  
  
Suu's activities on the other hand, had everyone wondering. Normally, she would be bounding around the house with hardly any rhyme or reason, but now, she seemed to be focused on a single objective. She never told anyone what that objective was, but the others started to get an idea after noticing the patterns of her activities. Aside from that little glitch, things were pretty normal, but as can be expected, things don't stay that way forever, and for one person, it would be an experience that would never be forgotten.  
  
--- Sunday, 7/27 2:12 PM (A/N: It's been a while since I last started a chapter after breakfast, huh?)  
  
Sean paced around the house; he had already completed his chores and was left with nothing to do. His wanderings led him to the living room; the others were there watching television. "Hey," he said. "What's going on?"  
  
"Nothing," Kitsune said. Apparently, they were as bored as Sean was.  
  
"Anyone have any suggestions yet?" Naru asked.  
  
"We could watch some home movies," Kitsune said.  
  
"And which ones did you plan on having us watch?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Like you really have to ask," Shinobu commented.  
  
"What kind of movies are you all talking about?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"Maybe at another time," Naru quickly said.  
  
"Anyone have any better ideas?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"You know," Sean said. "It's a sad state of affairs when things get boring around here."  
  
"And what do you suggest we do to take care of that?" Keitaro asked.  
  
Sean shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Maybe we could go see what Suu's up to or something."  
  
"She's probably just spying on the neighbors again," Shinobu said.  
  
"I honestly don't know what she finds so interesting about that place," Naru said.  
  
"Well, have any of you ever gone up to the roof and checked it out yourself?" Sean asked. Nobody could say they had. "Well, there you go. Apparently, she knows something we don't."  
  
"Let's leave her to her snooping," Kitsune said. "We'd probably just get in the way."  
  
"Well, that still leaves us with nothing to do," Mutsumi said.  
  
"Don't worry," Sean said. "Knowing this place, something's bound to happen sooner or later." As if on cue, a bright light appeared in the room.  
  
"You should really watch what you say," Kitsune said.  
  
"No kidding," Naru added.  
  
The light would only last a few moments, and when it faded, everyone saw a familiar figure standing before them. "Hey, Linda," Sean said. "Long time no see."  
  
"Good afternoon," Linda said politely.  
  
"To what do we owe this visit?" Motoko asked. It seemed everyone had the same thought in mind.  
  
"I have come to see Sean," Linda said.  
  
"Me?" Sean asked, taken aback by what the goddess said. "What do you need to see me for?"  
  
"I need you to do me a favor."  
  
"A favor? What kind of favor?"  
  
"I'll tell you the details on the way."  
  
"Now hold on just a sec," Kitsune said. "Why should he do you a favor? What can he do that you can't?"  
  
"Kitsune!" Shinobu said.  
  
"My reasons are not your concern!" Linda said, crossing her arms.  
  
"Maybe not," Kitsune said. "But what you do with our friend and landlord is!"  
  
"Kitsune, calm down," Sean said, intending on stopping World War III before it starts. "It's alright. I'm sure she has a good reason for doing this. Besides, I owe her."  
  
"What do you mean, 'you owe her'? What has she done for us besides scare us half to death?!"  
  
"She fixed my eyes, that's what!"  
  
"Sure, but--what?"  
  
"After Shinobu's test, she took me to get my eyes repaired."  
  
"Why didn't you say that before?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I don't know. I guess I just didn't want to call attention to it. It's not exactly noticeable, is it?"  
  
"Not really."  
  
"Keep in mind," Linda said. "This favor isn't just for me. You'll be doing this for all my sisters as well. If you're able to do this for us, we'll be eternally grateful. But I'm not forcing you to do anything against your will; you don't have to agree to it if you don't want to."  
  
"Well, considering what you and the other goddesses must be capable of, you'd need to be pretty desperate to come to me for help."  
  
Linda nodded. "You're basically a last resort."  
  
"I don't know how much help I can be, but I'll do what I can."  
  
"We won't think any less of you if you fail."  
  
"I'll hold you to that."  
  
"How long will this take?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"It depends on how determined Sean is," Linda said. "If you never give up, it might take hours, might take days."  
  
"Days?" Sean and Shinobu said in unison.  
  
"Are you kidding?" Kitsune asked.  
  
Linda shook her head. "I'm afraid not. We've been trying for years now without success."  
  
"Then what makes you think I can?" Sean asked.  
  
"Like I said, your our last resort."  
  
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't promise anything."  
  
"All I ask is that you try."  
  
"Just let me do something real quick first." Sean gave Shinobu a hug and a kiss. "Don't fall apart while I'm gone, okay?"  
  
"I can't believe you're leaving again," Shinobu said. Surprisingly, she didn't need to fight back tears this time around.  
  
"Duty calls," Sean said. "At least you know I'm leaving this time, right? See y'all when I get back!"  
  
"See you, Sean!" Keitaro said.  
  
"Good luck!" Motoko said.  
  
"He's gonna need it," Linda thought as Sean walked up to her.  
  
"Let's go," he said. They would leave the same way Linda had arrived; in a flash of light.  
  
"I wonder," Kitsune said. "What could he do that a bunch of women can't?" A grin appeared on her face. "I can think of one thing."  
  
"Kitsune!" Shinobu yelled. "Will you cut that out already?!"  
  
"What?" Kitsune asked, trying to look innocent. "It's possible, isn't it?"  
  
"You want me to WHAT?!" Sean asked after Linda informed him of the job he had been assigned to.  
  
"You want me to explain it again?" Linda asked.  
  
"No, I heard it just fine the first time." This was true, but he still found the idea very hard to grasp. "But why do you want me to seduce Amy?"  
  
"Well, you don't actually have to seduce her or anything. You just need to somehow convince her to let loose for once in her life. Stephanie's been trying for the last 500 some-odd years."  
  
"So I suppose seduction wouldn't work anyway. If you've been at it for that long and still couldn't do it, what makes you think I can?"  
  
"Well, you may be able to come up with something we haven't considered yet."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
The pair arrived in the living room they went to last time Sean paid a visit, but there was one main difference. Last time around, the living room was devoid of life; this time, there was a crowd there, waiting for them to arrive. "Whoa," Sean said, surprised at the sight of ten women looking right at him. "Uh, hey."  
  
"Hello, Sean," one of the women said, extending an arm out to him. "Welcome to our home."  
  
"Uh, thanks," Sean said, shaking hands. "I wasn't expecting such a welcome. I thought I'd be trying to avoid everyone like last time--oops."  
  
"Don't worry," another goddess said. "Linda already told us about your last visit."  
  
"Oh," Sean said, relieved that he hadn't gotten Linda in trouble. He looked at each woman until his eyes fell on Stephanie. At first he was curious as to why she refused to make eye contact until realization set in, forcing a grin to form on his face. He glanced at another of the deities that he happened to recognize. "Hey, um, Julie, right?"  
  
"Yes?" Julie said, a bit puzzled as to why he addressed her.  
  
Sean's smile grew a bit more sinister. "How did Stephanie's punishment go?"  
  
"Very well," Julie said, starting to grin as well.  
  
"Maybe for you!" Stephanie said. "It was hell for me! And for the record, I was totally against you bringing him here, Linda!"  
  
"We know, Steph," one of the other women said. "You been saying that ever since she brought it up! You're like a broken record."  
  
"Never mind her," another one said to Sean. "She's just PMSing."  
  
As some of the others girls giggled from that last comment, Sean could have sworn he could see Stephanie's eyes start to twitch. He started to wonder if he would regret showing up in the first place…  
  
While Sean was coming to terms with his assignment, Suu was on a mission of her own. Ever since Shinobu notified her of it three weeks before, Suu had focused all her efforts toward learning all she could about her new neighbor. In that span, she had watched moving trucks come and go, but saw no sign of anyone resembling an owner or other occupant. Normally, this wouldn't concern the usually carefree girl, but seeing what was delivered into the building piqued her interest. A truly alarming amount of computers and other electronic paraphernalia had been shipped inside, and she had become determined to find out more. Who could have a need for such things? What could be inside the hard drives of all those computers? And probably the most important question of all: Would he be her friend?  
  
The questions would not stop there, either. Four days ago, the moving trucks were replaced by a construction crew. Much to Suu's surprise, they tore down the existing garage and began building something on the far end of the structure, out of her line of sight. By now, she had finally had enough and decided to get a closer look, but she knew better than to show up herself. Therefore, she had thought ahead and, with a little aid from Sean, created a machine capable of infiltrating any structure with relative ease--or so she thought.  
  
--- 2:40 PM  
  
Suu sat on the roof, binoculars in hand, waiting for her chance to make her move. When the coast was clear, she looked at her latest creation; a model helicopter equipped with a surveillance camera. After donning a headset and visor, she grabbed a remote. "Final systems check," she thought. When she pressed a couple buttons, an image was displayed on the visor. "Visual, check; audio, check; activate propulsion systems!" She flipped a switch and the propeller blades began to spin and within moments, the helicopter was airborne. "Alright, let's go see what our neighbor is up to," she said to nobody in particular.  
  
The copter would take its sweet time in getting to its target. Earlier tests have shown that when moving at running speed or faster, the perspective would be similar to that of being in a roller coaster or some other vehicle which, when sitting still, can be very disorienting. Besides, history has shown that rushing into something headfirst can lead to disaster. The spy copter's first objective was to find out what was being built on the other side of the building. Suu would find that the structure was still under construction, but from what she could tell, it was going to be a garage to replace the one that was torn down a few days before; and it was going to be a very large one at that. From the looks of it, there was even going to be a second floor added, but that section had barely even begun, much less given any clues as to its function.  
  
"Well," Suu said. "That answers that. Now, let's venture inside and see what we find there, shall we?" Suu's perspective moved to the front door, but found it closed; big surprise. Nevertheless, Suu would not be denied, as she was prepared for such obstacles. After another flick of a switch, she steered her machine towards the door. Now, under normal circumstances, such a tactic would result in a ruined helicopter and a slashed-up door, but it just passed through as though the door was never there, leaving it untouched. This was a little feature added by Sean during the creation process, at Suu's request. As soon as it cleared the door, Suu flipped the switch back; as cool as the ability to pass through walls was, it could only be used sparingly because it was a drain on the fuel supply.  
  
The rooms the Suu found made it seem like an ordinary house; there was a living room, dining room, kitchen and so forth, but it was the kitchen where something caught her attention. "Hm," she muttered. "Why is there a doorknob set into the wall?" Aside from the knob itself, there were no obvious signs of a door being there. Curiosity taking over fully, she piloted the camera towards the wall and was about to flip the switch that would allow it to pass through it when she saw something pass by in a blur. "What the--" Before she could do anything, she heard the sound of screeching metal an then everything went black. "What was that?!" she yelled, tossing off the headset and looked down at the building below. After a few moments, a window opened and she saw what was left of her creation get tossed out. "There's something in there he doesn't want me to see," she said. "And I intend to do just that…"  
  
For the first day of Sean's stay at the goddesses' home, he was introduced to each woman and was told some details concerning Amy's behavior and past attempts to get her to participate in their… group activities. By the time he was fully caught up, it had gotten pretty late and so, he decided to get some sleep and get an early start the next day; provided Amy hadn't already found out about his arrival by then.  
  
--- Monday, 7/28 6:31 AM  
  
When Sean woke up that morning, it took him a few moments to recognize where he was. "Well, here we are," he thought, sitting up on the couch in the living room. "Another crazy day in the life of Sean Roberts." The previous night, some offers had been made for him to spend the night in one of the ladies' rooms, but he declined, opting instead to sleep on the couch. Now, he was starting to regret that decision, as he had woken up with a stiff neck. Of course, if he had accepted, a stiff neck might have been the least of his worries.  
  
Sean got up and walked down a hallway lined on both sides with doors; each bearing a symbol of each deity's affiliation. He couldn't help but notice that he hadn't seen any of them since he woke up. "I wonder when they get up in the morning," he thought. "For that matter, I wonder if they ever sleep at all." At the end of the hall, he found a door with no symbol on it. "Hmm, I wonder what behind this one." He knew he probably shouldn't be snooping around, but it was a better prospect then going back to the living room and being bored out of his mind.  
  
Opening the door, he found a narrow hallway the extended another 20 feet before turning right. As he walked, he started to hear the voices of some of the goddesses. By this time, his legs had gone on autopilot, so he continued on, despite his brain giving warnings the he really should be there. When he got to the corner, he saw that the hallway quickly opened up into a room, but he could only see a small portion of it; to see more would require another right turn. Poking his head in, his brain gave a quick "I told you so" to his legs.  
  
At one end of the room (the end he was on), was the longest vanity mirror he had ever seen, and the table set against the wall had all manner of makeup, brushes, hair spray and everything else involved in the beautification process. Of course, he didn't pay too much attention to that, as his gaze was drawn to the other end of the room. That end had a shower area like that of a locker room, with eight shower heads lined up in a row; and there was a decent number of woman currently making use of it.  
  
Granted, he liked what he saw, but it only took a moment to duck back out of sight. "Okay," he thought. "If I keep quiet, maybe they won't find out I'm here." He started to back up, but only made it five feet down the hallway before bumping into someone. "Oh no," he thought, his eyes growing wide. "Just my luck." He turned around to see who he had run into. "And it just got worse." Of all the people in the world, he just had to bump into Sandra.  
  
"Well, well," Sandra said, crossing her arms under her chest which, along with everything else, was bare. "Somebody's trying to be sneaky." (Sandra: Grim Reaper / Short black hair / Somewhat of a Goth)  
  
"What are you going to do?" Sean asked. It looked like he was staring death right in the face--well, actually he was.  
  
Sandra smiled. "Hey, girls, come here for a sec!"  
  
Sean didn't know what he was in for, and he wasn't exactly eager to find out. Unfortunately, Sandra blocked the way to the door, so had no other choice. He turned around just in time for the ladies he had just walked in on to round the corner.  
  
"Hey, Sandra," Linda said. "What did you--I see."  
  
"It seems we have ourselves a peeping Tom in our midst," Paula said. (Paula: Goddess of Literature / Short blonde hair / Eloquent)  
  
"Yeah," Brittany said. "If you wanted to see us naked, you could have just said so." (Brittany: G. of Music / Long blonde hair / Ditz)  
  
"If I really wanted to," Sean said, somehow able to regain his composure. "Why did I turn down the offers to sleep in any of your rooms? If I didn't know better, I'd be wondering what your intentions were. Besides, this is as much your fault as it is mine, since none of you ever told me what was behind that door in the first place. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll go and let you shower in peace." He turned and headed for the door.  
  
"Aw," Brittany said. "Don't be like that."  
  
Springing into action, one goddess ran towards Sean, going into handsprings midway through, the last of which propelling her right over Sean's head, landing right in front of the door about two seconds before he got there. "You think we're going to let you get away now?" Nancy said. (Nancy: G. of Sports / Short red hair / Energetic and competitive)  
  
Sean was caught off guard by Nancy's actions; his hand was already reaching for the doorknob, and he was barely able to retract it before it made contact with flesh. "This wasn't what Linda brought me here for."  
  
"Details, details. Just because you're here to do a certain job doesn't mean you can't do other things while you're here."  
  
"Yeah," Brittany said. "Besides, you won't be seeing Amy for another couple hours anyway, so why don't you join us?"  
  
Sean's mind instinctively turned to keeping their modesty and privacy in consideration. "I think I'll just wait till you're done before--"  
  
"Don't worry," Linda said, taking Sean by the arm. "We don't mind you looking at us. We've been around more than long enough to be comfortable with our bodies--some more so than others." She glanced at Stephanie while saying that last part.  
  
"If they're all okay with it," Sean's mind reasoned as Linda led him by the arm. "I suppose there'd be no harm in it. This'd be just like back home." He was the first one to reenter the bathroom. "You know," he said, looking around. "This really is a nice--WHOA!!" The sudden scream was caused by his clothes being torn to shreds. He turned around to see Stacy there, smiling at him, sword in hand. "Was that really necessary?!"  
  
Stacy giggled a bit as her sword phased out. "What's wrong with having a little fun with you? Besides, I heard this isn't the first time that's happened to you." (Stacy: G. of Martial Arts / Medium-length black hair / Athletic)  
  
"Besides," Irene said. "Most people don't bathe with their clothes on." (Irene: G. of the Outdoors / Long green hair / Usually passive, but can be ruthless)  
  
"I'm well aware of that and I can take off my clothes on my own, thank you very much," Sean said. "Oh yeah," he thought. "This is like back home; but is that a good thing?"  
  
"Hmm," Mary said as she got a good look at Sean. "Not bad, but I've seen better."  
  
"That's because you watch too much television," Julie said. (Mary: G. of all Theater / Medium blue hair / Couch potato) "Not everyone can be a model."  
  
"Obviously," Mary said.  
  
"Alright, enough with the commentary," Sean said. "Let's get this shower over with; I've got a recluse deity to take care of later on, and I want to have a plan of attack thought up by then."  
  
And so, the shower picked up where it left off, with the goddesses making girl talk amongst themselves and Sean on the far end, his brain trying to come up with feasible ways to get Amy more… outgoing. It didn't take long for one woman to notice him keeping his distance, not to mention the ever-present redness on his face. "Are you alright?" Irene asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sean said, barely looking in her direction. "I'm fine."  
  
"I thought you were used to seeing naked women," Nancy said.  
  
"It depends on the woman. Sure, I'm used to seeing the girls back home, but that's because I've known them for over a year; I just met most of you yesterday."  
  
"So, he's uncomfortable around us, is he?" Stephanie thought, a Kitsune-like grin appearing on her face. "That gives me an idea." She started whispering something to Catherine, who started to giggle.  
  
"What are those two up to?" Linda thought.  
  
Sean was too caught up in his own thoughts to notice anything, but he would find out what was going on soon enough. When he finished rinsing himself off, he turned to turn off his showerhead, but much to his surprise, found Stephanie's breast instead. "What the--?" she started as he backed up. After a couple steps, he slipped on a bar of soap, landing on his back.  
  
"Are you alright?" Julie asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sean muttered.  
  
"What did you do that for, Catherine?" Paula asked.  
  
"Watch," was all the snickering goddess said. (Catherine: G. of Trickery / Medium red hair / Mischievous)  
  
Sean tried to get up, but a couple hands grabbed his shoulders and forced him back down on the white tile. "Stephanie, what are you--"  
  
"You know how you make me feel," Stephanie said in a sultry voice. "And you staying here's only going to make me want you more."  
  
"Oh no," Sean thought as the horny goddess started rubbing herself against him. "This is Valentine's day all over again!"  
  
Linda knew Sean long enough to recognize the expression on his face; it was clear he was trying his damnedest not to enjoy the treatment Stephanie was giving him. "Steph, stop! You're torturing the poor guy! He didn't want it from Kitsune and he doesn't want it from you!"  
  
"I know," Stephanie said with a smirk.  
  
"Then why--"  
  
"Revenge takes no prisoners, Linda! Ever since I first came into contact with him, he's done nothing but frustrate me! The last thing he had done to me was the last straw!" She turned back to Sean. "Because of that punishment you came up with, it took me a week to get my hormone level back down to normal!"  
  
"Which is saying a lot, considering how horny she is on any given day," Mary said.  
  
"Oh, yeah," Catherine said. "I remember now; the lust potions. I gotta tell ya, Sean, that idea was a stroke of genius."  
  
"Whose side are you on, Cathy?!" Stephanie yelled.  
  
"Hey, I love torture, and I don't care who's the target."  
  
"Stephanie," Sean pleaded. "Will you stop this, please?!"  
  
"And what will you do if I don't?"  
  
"When I get back home, I'll send Julie as much lust potion as I can make!"  
  
Stephanie suddenly stopped. "You'll what?"  
  
"Keep going, Steph!" Catherine cheered.  
  
"Shut up! You wouldn't really do that, would you?"  
  
"Try me," Sean said with a growl.  
  
As much as Stephanie wanted to continue, she didn't want to experience Sean's brand of punishment again; and the second time might be worse than the first. Therefore, begrudgingly, she got off Sean, who quickly got up and went for his original target, but adjusted the temperature instead of turning it off. "Oh man," he sighed as the cold water quenched the fire within him. "I really hope every morning's not going to be like this."  
  
"Don't worry," Julie said. "We'll try and keep Steph from doing something like that again while you're here."  
  
"I appreciate it."  
  
"You guys are no fun!" Catherine griped.  
  
"I was turned on enough already without her making her moves on me," Sean muttered to himself as he shut off the water and went to grab a towel. "It's almost like I never left, what with Sarah and Kitsune's clones around. Though that little episode did give me an idea for what to do concerning Amy."  
  
"What did you have in mind?" Sandra asked.  
  
"I'll fill you in after I get dressed. Now, about my clothes."  
  
"Sorry about that," Stacy said. "I'll let you borrow some of my clothes while you're here to make up for what I did."  
  
"No need. I've got that covered; or at least I soon will be…"  
  
Motoko sat in Sean's room, typing out an e-mail to Jimmy when she felt the familiar presence of Sean's energy in the room. "Sean's back?" she thought, but quickly dismissed it when she realized that the energy was coming from both the closet and the dresser. Walking to the closet, she opened it to find one of Sean's shirts glowing, then vanish completely. "Oh, yeah, he didn't bring any clothes with him to… wherever it was he went." She went to the table and sat back down in front of the laptop. "I wonder how long he'll be gone…"  
  
--- 8:11 AM  
  
Amy was reading at her desk when she heard beeping from the direction of the door. Looking over she saw a panel on the wall with a number of lights on it; none of them were lit. Without a word, she got up and headed for the door. The device was a sensor that showed which of the other goddesses--if any--were present, and since there were nobody else around, she took the opportunity to go take a shower herself. Opening the door, she looked up and down the hall just to make sure she was alone before making her way to the bathroom.  
  
Unbeknownst to her, Sean was hiding behind the couch in the living room, using his X-Ray vision to track her movements. As soon as Amy stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind her, he moved out of his hiding place. "Well," he thought. "So far, so good. Everything's going according to plan." He stalked ever closer to the bathroom door, waiting for Amy to round the corner. When she did, he set his plan into motion.  
  
"Ah," Amy said as she undid her hair. "Without the others around, this place can be very peaceful; just the way I want it." After looking back down the hallway one last time, she stripped off her clothing, set it on the makeup table and made her way to the shower. "I swear, those other girls are crazy; the whole lot of them."  
  
"Oh, come on, are we that bad?"  
  
Amy's eyes grew wide and she quickly turned towards the opening to the hallway. "Stephanie, what are you doing here?!"  
  
"Are you surprised?" Stephanie asked.  
  
"I guess I need to fix that dumb sensor," Amy thought. "Get out! You know I bathe alone; no exceptions!"  
  
"Oh come now, you don't really mean that, do you? I mean, we're all friends here, aren't we?"  
  
"Wait a second," Amy thought. "Something's not right here. Usually, she'd have tried to seduce me by now. Plus, she doesn't normally talk that way." "Who are you?!" she yelled. "Show yourself!"  
  
"So you saw through my ruse," Stephanie's voice said. "Can't say I'm surprised, considering how smart you are."  
  
Amy was barely able to wrap a towel around herself before her surprise guest walked in; and she couldn't have predicted who it would have been if she tried. "Hello, Amy," Sean said, still using Stephanie's voice. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"  
  
Amy looked like she had seen a ghost. "How did you get here?! When the others find out about this, they're--"  
  
"The others already know I'm here," Sean said, reverting back to his normal voice. "They were the ones who brought me here in the first place."  
  
"Why would they bring you back?!"  
  
"You," Sean simply said.  
  
Amy looked confused. "What?"  
  
"Do you have any idea how worried the others are about you?"  
  
"What are you talking about? There's nothing wrong with me."  
  
"Your friends must think differently if they called on me. After what they've told me, I have to agree with them."  
  
"You gotta be--what did they tell you to do, exactly?"  
  
"They just want me to get you to be less of an introvert--they don't care how."  
  
"So Stephanie couldn't seduce me, so they brought you in to do it instead?"  
  
"If you really knew me, you'd know I don't do that. To be honest, I don't approve of that slut's methods, either, and she was opposed to my being here. No, it's obvious that force is not the way to go about this."  
  
"So you're going to try to talk me into it instead?"  
  
"You catch on quick."  
  
"Well, you might as well go home. There's no way I'll be talked into doing anything with… them."  
  
"There's a small problem with that, for you see, I don't exactly know how to get home, so I guess it's going to be just you and me until they get back."  
  
"Oh, they're going to pay for doing this to me," Amy thought. "Try all you want, Sean," she said out loud. "You won't succeed. Now will you go and let me shower in peace?!"  
  
"Just the setup I was waiting for," Sean thought. "Alright, alright, I'll go, but can I ask you something before I do?"  
  
"Make it quick."  
  
"Why do you insist on bathing all by yourself?"  
  
"I don't have to explain myself to you."  
  
"If I intend to help you, I'll need all the information I can get; I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at. Besides, the quicker you answer my question, the sooner I leave."  
  
"Is it so wrong for someone to want to be modest?"  
  
"No, but from what I've heard, you do it to a fault."  
  
"And your point is…?"  
  
"All I'm saying is, you don't have to be so ashamed of your own body. Well, I'm going to go leave you to your shower. See ya!" With that, he walked off into the hallway.  
  
"Hey, hold on just a second! I'm not--" Amy rushed to the hallway to find it completely empty. "Where'd he go?"  
  
Sean giggled to himself as he lounged on the couch back in the living room. "That should get the ball rolling."  
  
--- 3:22 AM  
  
"Alright," Suu said to herself. "Let's try this again." She sat on the roof, fiddling with her recently rebuilt spy-copter, making some final adjustments before its maiden voyage; one she hoped would last longer than the first one did. "If he destroys this one like he did the last one, I'll have to up the stakes a bit; he's going to regret ever messing with the technical genius that is Koalla Suu!" Beneath that confident exterior, doubt was rearing it's ugly head. She couldn't be sure what information she could get this time around. Without Sean's aid, getting through the front door would be quite a task, but she knew she'd think of something in the clutch.  
  
After donning the appropriate headgear, she deployed the helicopter, trying to come up with ways to get inside along the way; but it would end up being unnecessary, as she would soon see. "Hmm, what do we have here?" Much to her surprise, the front door was wide open. She was confused as to why whoever lived there would do such a careless thing, especially after what happened yesterday, but Suu saw it as a chance of a lifetime; and she wasn't about to let this one slip away.  
  
Quickly, Suu piloted the copter inside, but stopped as it entered the living room. "What was that?" she thought. She could have sworn she heard something, but she couldn't find the source. A few moments went by in an uncomfortable silence before she heard some of the most evil laughter she had ever heard--outside of herself, of course. She turned the camera around and let out a scream as she found glowing yellowish eyes staring her right in the face (you know what I mean). The next thing she knew, the video feed was cut.  
  
While she saw recovering from the shock, the others rushed up to the roof to see what was wrong. "What's the matter, Suu?!" Naru asked frantically. They all knew that when Suu screams like that, it can't be good.  
  
"Our neighbor is a freak of nature!"  
  
"Your kidding, right?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"It's eyes were glowing!!"  
  
"So what? We've seen Sean's eyes glow before."  
  
"That doesn't really help matters," Motoko said. "When his eyes glow, it's hardly ever a good thing."  
  
"Good point," Naru said.  
  
Suu was finally able to calm down. "Alright, as long as we don't go over there any time soon, I think we'll be--what the…?"  
  
"What's wrong?" Keitaro asked upon seeing Suu turn back to the neighbor's house.  
  
"I hear music," Suu said, confusion starting to set in.  
  
"I don't hear anything," Shinobu said.  
  
"It's coming through the headset," Suu explained. "Why would he keep my copter intact this time?" she thought. "Hey, I recognize that song. 'One Vision,' I think it's called." She had heard Sean play the song by Queen a few times before.  
  
"Hey, look over there!" Mutsumi said, pointing to the house. "Model airplanes!"  
  
Suu looked up to see a squad of planes, not unlike her own, fly towards them. "What in the world--?" Her eyes grew wide when she saw one of them fire a missile in her general direction. "You gotta be kidding me." Suu was barely able to back up before the missiles made contact with the rail, blowing away a surprisingly large chuck of it.  
  
As the planes passed by overhead, Suu happened to glance at the others, who were all speechless from the shock of what they had witnessed, and it took a shout by Suu to get them back to their senses. "Everyone, get inside, now!"  
  
"Can all model planes do that?" Mutsumi asked as they all went downstairs like their very lives depended on it.  
  
"So," Suu thought as she ran for her room. "If it's a fight you want, then that's what you'll get!" She rushed back to the roof, another of her remotes in hand. "You're not the only one with firepower!" She pressed a button and her own fleet of planes shot out of her room to join her rival's. Within moments, dogfights ensued, each side trying to shoot down the other. One by one, the planes fell until only two remained; both of them on Suu's side. "Yes! That should teach you not to mess with me!" Unfortunately, her adversary wasn't exactly a quick learner, as two full-size Surface-to-Air missiles shot from the mystery house, blowing her remaining arsenal to pieces. "How did…?" Suu wondered to herself as she went back to the railing, intending to find just where such heavy weaponry came from. As if to answer her, a third missile arrived from among the trees. Suu watched it rise high into the sky. As it reached its apex, it suddenly dawned on her; she was the intended target. In a panic, she dashed for the stairs, hoping to avoid the impending explosion. From her vantage point, she watched the missile imbed itself in the roof, but did not detonate.  
  
After waiting a few moments to catch her breath and get her heart rate back to normal, Suu cautiously approached the apparent dud. It was there that she found a message written on the defective projectile; it read, "You may have won this battle, but you will not win the war."  
  
"That's what you think," Suu muttered to herself as she walked back to her room. What had started has a simple reconnaissance mission had become a declaration of war; one that Suu took very personally, and she refused to be defeated.  
  
After their first encounter in the shower, Amy was all too willing to go into talks with Sean--mostly to try to disprove his allegations regarding her self-image, but would only end up proving him right. After being around for as long as she has, she knew well enough what kind of body she possessed, but had deemed herself unworthy of it over the years. In her opinion, an attractive figure was wasted on someone like her, as she has never wanted to show it off, hence the reason why she always bathed alone.  
  
Sean countered by saying that she should be proud that she has the best of both worlds; a hot body with a brain to match. Most people, man or woman, would give almost anything to have that. Even with her glasses--or perhaps even because of them--Sean said that anyone who wouldn't find her attractive must have some very strange tastes in women.  
  
The day culminated in Sean somehow convincing Amy to spend the rest of their time alone in the nude, his reason being to get her more accustomed to being admired. At first, Amy was so uncomfortable, she could hardly focus on the book she was reading, what with Sean in the room, seeing everything she had to offer, but she soon saw that Sean wasn't exactly having the time of his life either, if the blatant attempts to hide his arousal was any indication. This would distract her as well, but this one caused her to grin and blush uncontrollably; she had never been viewed as a sexual object before, so it was quite a new experience.  
  
The other girls would see the fruits of Sean's labors the following morning, when they found Amy in the shower, apparently waiting for them. Granted, she kept to herself a bit, but it was definitely an improvement. Needless to say, Sean was praised for what was already quite an accomplishment, but he wasn't done yet.  
  
Day two of negotiations would prove to be not as difficult--or as hormonally frustrating--as the first. Simply put, Sean brought Amy's work habits into question. Sure, she was the goddess of knowledge and everything, and that brought with it certain responsibilities, but going at it for two millennia non-stop was a bit much, even for her. Besides (and this was the focal point of Sean's argument), what else was left to look up? After all, she's been around for so long, she must know every aspect of every academic topic known to man and then some. Amy reasoned that the world is continuously evolving, especially in the areas of sociology and the most recent technological advances, but Sean felt that some limits had to be made. Amy's deteriorating eyesight is proof positive that she has been working too hard for too long, and if she hoped to keep from having to perform eye surgery on herself--again--then she had no other option than to take a break every once in a while. Now, Sean could have stopped there and his mission would still have been considered a success by the others, but he decided to go one step further…  
  
--- Wednesday, 7/30 7:12 AM  
  
"GOOD MORNING, SEAN!"  
  
Those words were said as soon as Sean opened his eyes, scaring the pants off of him. With an exasperated sigh, he said, "Good morning to you too, Sarah." Quickly, he remembered where he was. "I mean Cathy. Please, don't do that again."  
  
Catherine giggled. "Sometimes, you make things way too easy for me."  
  
"I'm sorry," Linda said. "She insisted."  
  
"Yeah," Sean muttered. "Insisted on giving me a heart attack." He stretched a bit as he sat up in bed. After the night on the couch, Sean decided to take the girls up on the offer to sleep in one of their rooms, finally settling on Linda's, as he knew her the best and trusted her the most not to try anything; or at least not make too big a deal of it. "I swear," he thought as he got out of bed. "What with Cathy and Stephanie here, it's like I never left Hinata-Sou." After a quick shower, he conjured some breakfast for himself in the living room, where a couple of the deities stopped to chat with him before going off on their daily business.  
  
"I just want to say," Stacy said. "That on behalf of my follow goddesses, I thank you for all that you've done."  
  
"Yeah," Mary said. "It's about time Amy started enjoying herself."  
  
"No sweat," Sean said. "I'm glad I could help, though I've still got one thing left planned."  
  
"And what's that?" Stacy asked.  
  
"I don't want to give it away. I want it to be a surprise for when you all get back tonight. Is Amy in her room?"  
  
"As far as we know, yeah," Mary said.  
  
"Good." Sean had just finished eating, so he got up and started walking toward his target's quarters. "See you tonight."  
  
"See ya!" Stacy said.  
  
"I look forward to seeing what you do with Amy today," Mary said.  
  
"If you only knew," Sean thought as he opened the door to Amy's inner sanctum. "Good morning, Amy."  
  
"Hello, Sean," Amy said, giving her most cheerful greeting in recent history. "What's on the itinerary for today?"  
  
"Before I say, I want you to promise to keep an open mind," Sean said, closing the door.  
  
"I have so far. Do your worst."  
  
"You asked for it." Sean took a deep breath. He knew he had to tread lightly until he could find sure footing. "Alright, let's talk about your sex life."  
  
Amy looked at him like he just started speaking Klingon. "My what?"  
  
"You heard me."  
  
Amy had secretly hoped it wouldn't have come to this. "You can't really expect me to talk about that, can you?"  
  
"Actually, I don't." Amy would have breathed a sigh of relief, but what Sean said next would make the breath catch in her throat. "In order to talk about your sex life, you'd need to actually have one."  
  
Amy instantly recognized Sean's tactics; he had gone all psychological on her from day one. She was determined not to let him get in her head this time around. "So what?"  
  
"Why have you refused to fulfill your desires?"  
  
"Because I've had no desires to fulfill."  
  
"They were right after all," Sean thought, reflecting back to the stories told to him by the other girls his first day there. "At first, I was reluctant to believe that Amy's been frigid for the last 2,000 years, but now… I certainly have my work cut out for me."  
  
"You shouldn't even bother," Amy said. "Stephanie's been trying to seduce me for centuries now, and it hasn't worked yet."  
  
"Maybe she just hasn't tried the right way," Sean muttered; just another example of his mouth working before his brain.  
  
"What what is the right way, if you're so smart?" Amy asked, her arms now crossed.  
  
"Only you can know that for sure, Amy, though I can narrow it down somewhat. For example, it's obvious you don't want to be forced into it. I feel the same way you do; Stephanie can definitely attest to that."  
  
"I know; I've seen it myself."  
  
"And she's not the only one who's made her moves on me, either. Don't think you're the only one who feels pressured to have sex. You seem to be unaffected by Steph's advances; I'm not so lucky."  
  
"And how do you deal with it?"  
  
Sean turned into Alicia. "This is how. As landlord, it is my duty to make sure my tenants are well cared for, even sexually. Despite this, I don't, nor will I ever plan on becoming a single father, and this is the only way I can be completely sure that doesn't happen."  
  
"At least you have your priorities straight. I assume you sate your own desires in that form as well?"  
  
"I do. It seems almost sad that I know more about the female orgasm than you do."  
  
"That's what you think," Amy said, once again, falling for one of Sean's psychological ploys. "I have a higher understanding of bodily functions than you ever will."  
  
"Sure, technically, you may know more about what goes on with something like that, but there are some things you just can't get from a textbook. For years, I've wondered what it would be like to be a woman but, under normal circumstances, I would be stuck to mere speculation, but being the wizard that I am, I can get around such boundaries without having to resort to surgery. At first, my gender switching was solely for the purposes of gathering information, but after a while, I realized my new form came with some fringe benefits I hadn't counted on."  
  
"And what were they?" As if Amy didn't know.  
  
"As a girl among girls, I found it easier to let go of my inhibitions. I've experienced things I never could have as a man; and my life has been that much better because of it."  
  
"Sex is overrated."  
  
"You think that because all Stephanie's done is try to force it upon you." Alicia started walking to where Amy was seated at her desk. "What if she had tried a different approach?"  
  
Amy gave Alicia a suspicious look. "What are you doing?"  
  
"As much as you know about the human body, there are some things you can never understand fully unless you experience it for yourself. Stephanie obviously wasn't any help, so why don't I give it a shot?"  
  
"Why do you think you can succeed where Stephanie has failed?"  
  
"Because unlike Stephanie, I don't have an ulterior motive. I don't crave sex like she does, which allows me to focus more on what you need."  
  
Amy had to admit, Alicia had a good point. The only thing Stephanie was ever after was a good fuck. As Alicia began massaging her shoulder, she could feel her apprehension start to melt away. "That feels nice."  
  
"That's the idea," Alicia whispered into Amy's ear.  
  
This sent shivers up and down Amy's spine. Nobody had ever given her this kind of attention before, and she started to wonder if, all along, this was all it would have taken to get her to feel this way.  
  
"Tell me what you want," Alicia whispered.  
  
"Just keep doing what you're doing," Amy said, slumping a bit in her chair.  
  
"She's becoming putty in my hands," Alicia thought. "Time to up the stakes a bit." She started to kiss Amy lightly on the crook of her neck, causing her to gasp. "Are you enjoying yourself?"  
  
Amy merely nodded, unable to say a word. She could feel the heat start to rise within her. She liked this feeling, and she wanted more. Letting her newly discovered womanly instincts take over, she grabbed Alicia's hands and brought them down the front of her body, stopping at her breasts.  
  
Taking the hint, Alicia began to gently squeeze, eliciting some moans from the formerly frigid goddess. "Do you want more?"  
  
"Yes," Amy sighed. "Oh, God, yes!" This was the best Amy has ever felt since… well, ever. At this moment, all she knew was Alicia fondling her and the growing warmth within her. It came to the point where she found it difficult to keep her clothes on, but after a few minutes of bliss, it all came to a crashing halt. "C'mon, don't stop now!" Hearing Alicia snicker only made things more unsettling. "And what's so damn funny?!"  
  
Alicia had that evil grin on her face. "I just got a great idea…"  
  
--- 6:20 PM  
  
Alicia was lounging in the living room when the goddesses started to return home. "Welcome home, ladies," she said as Paula and Brittany arrived.  
  
"Um," Brittany said. "Do we know you?"  
  
"More than you realize, apparently," Alicia said. Another goddess appeared in the room. "Hey, Linda."  
  
"Hello, Sean," Linda greeted.  
  
"That's Sean?!" Paula asked, reluctant to believe that last exchange of words. "How is that possible?!"  
  
"Linda never told you I could turn into this, did she?"  
  
"Did I forget to mention that?" Linda asked, sporting an innocent look.  
  
"Yeah, you did," Brittany said, turning to Alicia. "How come you didn't do that sooner? We could have had some real fun in the shower."  
  
"I have my reasons," Alicia said.  
  
"So," Paula said. "What progress have you made with Amy?"  
  
"You'll find out soon enough. In fact, there's only one thing left to do, but I can't do it just yet."  
  
"Why not?" Brittany asked.  
  
"There's something missing," Alicia said, just as more women arrived in the room. "And there she is now. Hey, Steph!"  
  
"Hey," Stephanie said. "What's up?"  
  
"I'm doing fine, but Amy's another story."  
  
"What's wrong with her?" Nancy asked.  
  
"Well, the talks today kinda struck a nerve." Technically, this was true. "She gave me her account on what you've done to her, Stephanie. Why do you think I'm out here right now? She's not in a good mood, and she told me she wants to speak with you as soon as you got home."  
  
The nature of Alicia's explanation coupled with her serious tone conspired to make the love deity very worried. She could only imagine what could happen when centuries worth of aggression was unleashed. Reluctantly, she made her way to Amy's room. Within moments of entering, they heard a shriek from inside.  
  
"Stephanie!!" Nancy and Stacy said in unison as they went to their friend's aid--or they would have if Alicia hadn't had a tight grip on their arms.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Nancy asked.  
  
"Yeah, who knows what Amy's doing to her in there!"  
  
"I know exactly what she's doing," Alicia said. "I did release the beast within Amy, just not what I originally said it was."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Brittany said.  
  
"Listen closely," Alicia said, pointing to Amy's door. Screaming could be heard from inside, but they weren't exactly ones of pain or anguish.  
  
"Sean," Linda said, a look of disbelief on her face. "Tell me you didn't just--"  
  
"--Give Amy's sex drive a jump start?" A wide grin appeared on Alicia's face. "Yes, I did."  
  
"I don't believe it," Paula said. "You actually did the impossible!"  
  
"Wouldn't be the first time," Alicia said. "If my career in magic is any indication. Well, I guess my work here is done."  
  
"But what about Stephanie?" Irene asked.  
  
"Don't worry, she'll be alright. Frankly, I think it's high time the tables were turned on her." Alicia held out a hand towards Linda. "Shall we?"  
  
Linda nodded. "Let's go."  
  
"We'll see you again sometime," Catherine called out. "You can count on that!"  
  
"Knowing you, should I be looking forward to it or dreading it?"  
  
Shinobu was making dinner, humming to herself when she saw a flash of light coming from the dining room. Rushing to see what was going on, her face lit up when she found Sean and Linda standing before her. "Have room for one more?" Sean asked, a smile on his face.  
  
"SEAN!!" Shinobu squealed as she ran over and hugged Sean as hard as she could.  
  
"I'm glad I'm back, too," Sean said.  
  
"So," Kitsune said as she and Naru entered the room. "How did that whole mission thing go?"  
  
"He exceeded our greatest expectations," Linda said.  
  
"What did you have to do, anyway?" Naru asked.  
  
"I'll explain everything at dinner." He flinched when he heard explosions coming from outside. "Okay, what have I been missing?"  
  
"Suu started a war with the new neighbor," Shinobu said. "It's been like that for a couple days now."  
  
"She on the roof?"  
  
"Most likely."  
  
"Great," Sean said as he made his way to the stairs. "I'd better make sure she doesn't blow this place up."  
  
--- Sunday, 8/2 8:12 AM  
  
All the girls (including Alicia) took a trip to the hot springs after breakfast. Over the last couple days, Sean has told everyone what he had done and was now in the process describing all the goddesses. "…I tell you, it was almost like I never left," Alicia said, glancing in Shinobu's direction. "…Almost."  
  
"After what you told us, I'm not surprised," Motoko said.  
  
"You said it," Kitsune said.  
  
"Even though it was interesting living with them," Alicia said. "Nobody can replace you girls." All of a sudden, Alicia began to glow. "What the--" She then vanished, leaving an astonished group of girls in her wake.  
  
"Oh no, not again," Shinobu said.  
  
"Hey, what's this?" Motoko asked, noticing a slip of paper where Alicia had been. "It says, 'We felt Sean needed to be properly rewarded for his services. Don't worry, we'll have him back by the end of the day. Signed, Linda and Amy.'"  
  
"Gee, I wonder what that reward could be?" Kitsune asked. Everyone knew it was a rhetorical question.  
  
End of Chapter IL  
  
Since school is back in session for me, I don't know when chapter 50 will be up. Until then, please R&R! 


	52. Ch50: An Aoyama By Any Other Name

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
After taking so long on the last chapter, this one must be a breath of fresh air.  
  
Chapter L: An Aoyama By Any Other Name  
  
Saturday 8/23 6:36 AM  
  
After returning from Myrtle Beach, Sean and Motoko resumed their weekly training regimen. To the casual observer, it would look like Motoko was as strong as she ever was, but Sean knew her long enough (and been the target of enough of her attacks) to see that she wasn't at the top of her game. After their latest sparring session came to a close (in an all-too-rare stalemate), they took a seat to get their strength back before leaving the video game dimension. It was at this time that Sean decided to get to the root of Motoko's problem--as if he hadn't already figured out what it was. "You really miss Jimmy, don't you?" he asked out of the blue.  
  
Motoko looked at Sean in surprise. After the first week or so since returning home, it had appeared that she had gotten over the fact that she and her newly found love were so far away, but in reality, she felt like she was being torn apart from the inside out. Sure, staying in contact via phone calls and e-mail helped somewhat, but she yearned to speak to Jimmy face to face. "What are you talking about?" she asked, trying to put up a strong front.  
  
"You can drop the act, Motoko," Sean said. "You can't fool me."  
  
"How could you tell?" With her experience in keeping her emotions covered up, she thought her performance was flawless.  
  
"Ever since we got back from Myrtle Beach, I've noticed your skills have been slowly deteriorating. You've been losing your focus, and I can think of only one reason as to why."  
  
Upon hearing this, Motoko knew her cover had just been blown, but she couldn't believe that out of everything that could have exposed her ruse, it had to be the thing she held closet to her heart; even closer than Jimmy. "Was it really that obvious?" she asked, refusing to make eye contact.  
  
"You're not the only one who's had to spend time away from a loved one," Sean said. "Shinobu and I have had to go through that more times than I'd like."  
  
"But you know you and Shinobu will be back together before too long," Tears started to well up in Motoko's eyes. "I can't be sure if I'll ever see Jimmy again."  
  
Sean didn't know exactly how to respond to that, as he was skeptical about seeing his friend as well. He had no plans to visit his old hometown again any time soon, and according to the conversations Motoko has had with him, Jimmy was the same way concerning them. "Um, at least you two are still keeping contact. That must count for something."  
  
"It's just not the same. I want to see him in person; I want to hold him in my arms; I want to fight him." If Motoko wasn't the swordswoman she was, that last part would have sounded really weird. "I'm not saying you're not a bad sparring partner or anything, it's just--"  
  
"Don't worry about it," Sean interrupted. "I understand." He stood up, stretching a bit in the process. "Well, I'm out. You coming?"  
  
Motoko shook her head. "I'd like to stay here a while longer."  
  
Sean nodded. "I'll see you at breakfast, then."  
  
"Wait, could I ask you something before I go?"  
  
"Sure, anything to help."  
  
"Would you please not tell anyone about this? I don't want to make them worry about me or anything."  
  
"No problem." With that, Sean vanished, leaving Motoko alone with her thoughts. She didn't have to worry about finding a way out, since Sean recently installed a permanent portal to the outside world. Motoko had requested this addition in order to do some of her training and meditation in private, away from prying eyes. This was one of those private moments, but it had nothing to do with training.  
  
Right then and there, she let her tears blaze a trail down her face. "I don't know how long I can wait," she cried. Memories of Motoko's and Jimmy's last few moments together played in a continuous loop in her mind. She could almost feel Jimmy's arms around her, but she had to face facts; Jimmy was half a world away, and she might never see him again… but she couldn't lose hope. Even if it left her a complete wreck, she would wait for that wonderful moment when Jimmy would come back into her life in a way that phone calls and e-mails could never do.  
  
"I have to think of something I can do to help her," Sean thought as he exited Motoko's room. "I mean, there's no telling how much longer she can keep up that act. Hell, she could crack today for all I know. Hmm, maybe I could take her over to Jimmy's every so often. I'll run that idea by both of them when I get a chance."  
  
With that mess out of the way for the moment, Sean went into his daily routine, which included making breakfast with Shinobu. Naturally, the first step in doing that would be to check if his girlfriend was even awake. Making his way to her room, he quietly opened the door to find her still fast asleep. "She looks so peaceful when she's asleep," he thought. "Of course, she's usually peaceful at any other time of day as well. It's when she's upset that you have to look out." That brought up the memory of Shinobu's reaction too finding Mutsumi in his bed; he shuddered at the thought. "I hope I never see her like that ever again."  
  
Deciding to let her sleep a while longer, he started to close the door, but froze when he heard something from inside. He instantly recognized it as Shinobu's voice, but from this distance, he couldn't understand what she was saying. Against his better judgment, Sean entered the room and crept up close to Shinobu so he could listen in on whatever dream she was having.  
  
"I love you so much, Sean," Shinobu muttered.  
  
"I should have known she'd be dreaming about me," Sean thought.  
  
"I've been having a great time today. Thank you," Shinobu said, a giddy smile on her face.  
  
"I wonder what the occasion is," Sean thought. A sly grin appeared on his face. "Should I? Aw, why not?" Sean leaned down and gave Shinobu a peck on the cheek, making her face start to turn pink.  
  
"Sean," Shinobu giggled. "What are you doing? We can't do that here."  
  
"Hello," Sean thought, a look of mild surprise on his face. This little development only made him want to know what was going on all the more.  
  
"But what if we get caught?" By now, Shinobu's face was bright red and she had a tight grip on her bed sheets. "I don't even want to think about what the others would do if they found out about this."  
  
"Okay," Sean thought. By now, he had a pretty good idea as to what was happening in Shinobu's mind. "Time to end this before it… I go too far." He put his mouth close to Shinobu's ear. "Shinobu," he whispered in a sing-song voice. "Shinobu…"  
  
The blue-haired girl stirred a bit and slowly opened her eyes. She gasped as soon as she saw who was in the room with her.  
  
"And a good morning to you, too," Sean said. "Did you know that you talk in your sleep?"  
  
Shinobu's eyes grew wide and her face turned a deep red. "You mean you--"  
  
"Let's put it this way," Sean interrupted. "I have a good idea as to what we were doing, but I'd still like to know where we were doing it."  
  
As Shinobu sat up, it was obvious that she was reluctant to respond. "Um, well, we had spent the whole day in the park and…"  
  
"And I wasn't quite ready to go home yet, right?"  
  
"Uh, right."  
  
"Don't worry," Sean said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. "Dreams are nothing to be ashamed about. Besides, seeing you all bashful like this reminds me of when we first met, and we both know that's not a bad thing."  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said, smiling for the first time since she woke up, but it wasn't her usual cheerful one. "Plus, it's not like I'm the only one having adult dreams, right?"  
  
Sean laughed nervously at Shinobu's accusing tone. "Uh, right. I'm going to go start making breakfast, 'kay?"  
  
"Alright. I'll be right down after I get dressed." She watched Sean leave the room, closing the door behind him. "He's such a character," she said to herself as she got up and headed for her closet. Unbeknownst to Sean, she had actually been awake the entire time he was there.  
  
--- 7:12 AM  
  
Motoko was the first to reach the dining room for breakfast that morning. She had long since regained her composure and resumed her act of impassiveness. "Good morning, Motoko," Shinobu said as she set the table. "Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."  
  
"Alright," Motoko said, taking her usual seat. She watched Shinobu head back into the kitchen. Shortly thereafter, Sean came out; Motoko noticed that he was looking back towards the kitchen a couple times as he made he way to her.  
  
"Are you feeling any better?" Sean whispered, making sure Shinobu couldn't hear.  
  
"A little," Motoko whispered back. "I just needed to let out my frustrations without anyone knowing something's wrong."  
  
"You know you can't keep it up forever. One of the others are bound to find out sooner or later."  
  
"And I'll cross that bridge when I get to it," Motoko simply said. It was at this time that the others start to filter in, so they quickly ended their conversation.  
  
"Ah," Kitsune said, taking a big whiff. "Breakfast smells delicious as always."  
  
"You two certainly make a great team," Keitaro said.  
  
"Actually, Shinobu's the one with all the talent," Sean said. "I'm just good at following directions."  
  
"Oh, come on," Shinobu said, bringing in a couple trays a food. "That pizza you made last week was great! You didn't need my help with that."  
  
"That's because it came out of a box," Naru said.  
  
"Uh, thank you for proving my point," Sean said, amid everyone's laughter.  
  
"Dig in, everyone!" Shinobu said. They were about to do just that when they heard a knock at the door.  
  
"I'll get it," Sean said, getting up. "Go ahead and start without me."  
  
"Who would come at this time in the morning?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I guess we'll find out soon enough," Naru said. Everyone heard a couple voices coming from the front door, but they were so faint, they couldn't figure out what was going on. Moments later, Sean reappeared in the dining room.  
  
"Hey, Motoko," he said. "There's someone here to see you; someone you know pretty well."  
  
In an instant, Motoko's face lit up. "Could it be?" she thought, thinking a miracle had just happened. She started to get up, but Sean stopped her.  
  
"Don't bother getting up," Sean said.  
  
With some reluctance, Motoko sat back down; it took a moment for what Sean said to fully register, making her happy expression turn to one of confusion. "Did he say 'her'?" she thought. "So it's not Jimmy after all. But if it's not him, but who--" The thought stopped short when the visitor entered the room. "No, it can't be." But it was.  
  
"Hello, Motoko," the woman said, a pleasant smile on her face.  
  
"Hello…" Motoko replied, an unreadable expression on hers; not from lack of emotion, but the other way around. "…sister."  
  
"Everyone, this is… Tsuruko, correct?" The older Aoyama sibling nodded. "We were just about to have breakfast. Care to join us?"  
  
"Yes, thank you," Tsuruko said, sitting between Sean and Motoko.  
  
"So, you're Motoko's sister, huh?" Kitsune said. "Now I see where she gets her good looks from."  
  
While Tsuruko chuckled a but at the comment, Motoko felt like she was being put through the wringer. "So, sister," Motoko said, a hint of fear in her voice. "What brings you here?"  
  
"I think you know exactly why I'm here," Tsuruko said.  
  
"Um, even though this looks like a family matter and we probably shouldn't get involved," Keitaro said. "But could you fill us in?"  
  
"As part of the head family in the God's Cry School," Motoko said. "It is my birthright to eventually become master."  
  
"That is correct," Tsuruko said. "And I have come to take you home to do that very thing."  
  
"Are you serious?" Sean asked.  
  
"She's always serious," Motoko asked. "But why now? I'm not ready to take over yet. There are still thing I have yet to do."  
  
"That is of no consequence," Tsuruko said. "Well, let's go."  
  
"Wait, hold on," Sean quickly said as Tsuruko grabbed Motoko's arm and started to get up. "You're going to take her away NOW?!"  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "You should at least let her finish breakfast first."  
  
"I do not wish to leave," Motoko said as she was dragged out of the room. "I enjoy the time I spend with my friends."  
  
"Your friends can still visit you," Tsuruko said, her voice never wavering.  
  
"SISTER!!" Motoko screamed. "PLEASE RECONSIDER!!"  
  
"There must be some way you can let her stay here," Naru said.  
  
"Only one," Tsuruko said, still keeping a vice-like grip on Motoko's arm. "She must be wed."  
  
"I see," Sean said. "Motoko, I'm disappointed in you."  
  
"WHAT?!" Motoko had no idea what Sean was saying.  
  
"To think, we've been engaged for almost three months now and you didn't even tell your own sister."  
  
"What are you talking about?" Suu asked. "You're not--" Sean quickly placed a hand over her mouth.  
  
"Shut it," Sean said in a hushed tone.  
  
"Is this true?" Tsuruko asked, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Uh…" Motoko muttered, managing a weak smile. "Surprise."  
  
"Well, that's another story, then," Tsuruko said, letting go of Motoko. "Congratulations."  
  
In an instant, Motoko was back at the dinner table, wrapping her arms around Sean's. "Um, could you excuse us for a minute?" she asked.  
  
"Of course," Tsuruko said.  
  
Motoko waited for her elder to leave the room before saying anything more. "What are you doing?!" she asked Sean, releasing him from her grip.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "Why would you say you and Motoko are engaged?"  
  
"Listen," Sean said. "You don't want to leave, right?"  
  
"You know I don't," Motoko said.  
  
"Well, we don't want you to leave either, and if that means resorting to deception, then so be it."  
  
For Motoko, it took a few moments for what Sean said to fully sink in. Suddenly, he wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you so much!"  
  
"We're behind you all the way!" Kitsune said.  
  
"Anything for a friend," Sean said, turning towards the others. "Alright, we only have to keep this whole engagement thing going until Motoko's sister leaves. Are you all up to it?"  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "We're behind you all the way."  
  
"I'm not so sure about this," Shinobu muttered.  
  
"Don't worry," Sean said. "When all this is said and done, if we play our cards right, everything will go back to normal."  
  
"But what if something goes wrong?"  
  
"Somehow, I think we all know what'll happen if we botch this," Kitsune said.  
  
"All the more reason not to screw this up," Naru said.  
  
"I'm glad I'm not in his place," Keitaro thought.  
  
"Let's go chat with the in-law before she starts to suspect something," Sean said.  
  
"Actually," Motoko said. "I don't think I'm up to facing my sister right now."  
  
"Why? Afraid she'd kick your ass if she found out we're lying?" Kitsune asked jokingly.  
  
"Exactly," Motoko said, much to Kitsune's surprise. "Tsuruko's the best fighter the God's Cry School has had in generations. I'm no match for her." She glanced at Sean. "Especially now," she thought.  
  
"Okay," Sean said after a moment of thought. "I've got an idea. It's not a permanent solution, but it'll buy me and Motoko some time to figure this whole thing out."  
  
"You can count on us for help," Naru said.  
  
"We're going to need it," Motoko muttered.  
  
After Sean explained his plan (which was very straightforward), they all sprang into action, Sean and Motoko going one way, everyone else going the other to deal with Tsuruko, who was seated on the couch in the living room. Everyone was on edge, nobody knowing what to say to get a conversation going.  
  
"So," Kitsune finally said. "What have you been up to lately?"  
  
"Not much," Tsuruko said. "Just living a comfortable life with my husband."  
  
"Ah, you're married," Naru said. "That explains why you came for Motoko to take charge of the school; you couldn't do it yourself."  
  
"On that note, where is the happy couple?"  
  
"Out in the hot spring," Shinobu said. "They had a training session earlier this morning and haven't had a chance to get cleaned up until now."  
  
"So they bathe together, do they? What else have they done with each other?"  
  
"Aw, you know," Kitsune said. "Those thing couples do in their free time." The Hinata Crew was relieved that they didn't have to lie quite as much as they at first thought, though they feared that using mere technicalities would come back to bite them.  
  
"How has my sister's training been as of late? Has she been improving?"  
  
"We can't say for sure," Keitaro said. "They always train off in some secret location, so we haven't seen her in action for a while."  
  
"I see," Tsuruko said. "He wishes to remove all distraction from her training. I can see that he will make a fine husband for my dear sister."  
  
Hearing those words made Shunobu's eye start to twitch but fortunately, Tsuruko wasn't looking in her direction, so it went unnoticed. "I don't know if I can take much more of this," she thought. "Please leave soon." She snapped out of her doldrums when Tsuruko got up off the couch. "Where are you going?"  
  
"The hot spring," Tsuruko said. "I'd like to speak to Motoko myself."  
  
That threw up a red flag in the mind of everyone else. "Um, I don't think that's a good idea," Kitsune said.  
  
"And why not?"  
  
"They don't like to be interrupted when they're bathing," Naru said.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "If anyone should happen to walk in on them…" She shuddered, showing Tsuruko that it wouldn't be a very favorable situation.  
  
"I thought you said you haven't seen Motoko in combat," Tsuruko said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"Who said we were talking about Motoko?" Keitaro quickly said.  
  
"Yeah, Sean got skills!" Suu cheered. Again, a technicality.  
  
"I can take care of myself," Tsuruko simply said.  
  
"Oh man," Motoko said as her towel-clad body came to a rest in the water. "What a mess this is."  
  
"You said it," Sean said; he was already seated.  
  
"I never expected my sister to show up so soon."  
  
Sean looked at his "fiancée" in surprise. "You knew she was coming all along?"  
  
"I knew the time would arrive when she would come for me; I just didn't think it would be so soon." Motoko kissed Sean on the cheek. "Thanks again for helping me get through this. I'm really not ready to take over the dojo yet."  
  
"No sweat," Sean said. "I'd hate to see you taken somewhere against your will."  
  
"I just wonder how Shinobu's handling this."  
  
"She'll be fine; at least as long as your sister doesn't force us to consummate our engagement or something."  
  
"She wouldn't do something like that. I'm more worried about what she'd do if she discovered our ruse."  
  
"Tsuruko seems like a pretty sensible woman," Sean said. "I'm sure she'd understand if she found out we weren't even boyfriend and girlfriend, much less engaged."  
  
"Is that right?"  
  
A look of shock appeared on both Motoko's and Sean's faces as they saw Tsuruko in the doorway. "Do you want to test that theory of yours?" Motoko asked,  
  
"You gotta be kidding me," Sean muttered, putting two fingers to his forehead. "From all the bad timing I've had to put up with in my lifetime, you'd think I was living in a damn sit-com or something."  
  
"Sorry, Sean," Kitsune said from behind Tsuruko. "We couldn't stop her."  
  
"You did your best, I'm sure," Sean said. "That's all we can ask."  
  
"You've been lying to me this whole time, Motoko?" Tsuruko asked. The friendly smile had long since vanished from her face.  
  
"Y-Yes, Tsuruko," Motoko said timidly.  
  
"I must say, I have some respect for your friends. They must care for you deeply to commit such a charade just to get me to let you stay here. Regardless, such disobedience cannot go unpunished." She emphasized her point by unsheathing her sword.  
  
"Uh oh," Motoko thought. "Getting my sister angry is never a good thing." She was barely able to get out of the way of an energy blast coming her way. "I do not wish to fight you, sister!"  
  
"I do not recall calling it as such."  
  
Motoko dodged another blast, grabbing her sword in the process. "Well, I am," she said, brandishing her own weapon.  
  
Tsuruko laughed menacingly. "If that's what you want. Give me your best shot."  
  
"C'mon, Motoko!" Sean cheered. "You can do it!"  
  
Motoko charged her opponent, but her attack was blocked easily and effortlessly. "You expect to impress me with that?" Tsuruko asked.  
  
"Even if you are my older sister," Motoko said as she backed off. "I refuse to let you boss me around. I will live my life the way I want to live it. I intend to become the master of the God's Cry School, but only when I'm good and ready!"  
  
"Nice words," Tsuruko said. "But do you have what it takes to back them up?"  
  
"Let's find out. ROCK SPLITTING SWORD!!" Motoko sent a wave of ki at her sister, but she batted it away as though she was swatting a fly.  
  
"Is that all you got?" Tsuruko asked. "You are pitiful." Once again, Motoko charged, but this time, her strike only hit air. "You lack focus. There's no way you can win."  
  
Motoko turned around to find Tsuruko charging at her. She raised her blade to block, but the energy strike cleaved it in half, allowing the attack to make contact with flesh, sending Motoko flying backwards. "I gotcha!" Kitsune said, catching her before she hit the wall.  
  
"You have disgraced yourself with your lies and your abysmal attempt at defeating me," Tsuruko said, sheathing her sword. "I hope you enjoy your new life, because for you, the path along the way of the sword ends right here, right now." Without another word, she walked towards the door, where the others quickly moved out of her way.  
  
"Hey, hold on!" Sean yelled, running inside after her.  
  
"Motoko…" Keitaro said as he watched Kitsune lay her down on the ground. In an instant, Shinobu was at her side, checking to see just how bad she was hurt by the attack dealt to her.  
  
"Thank goodness," Shinobu said after a few seconds. "It's only a flesh wound. Everything's going to be fine."  
  
"No," Motoko whispered. "You're wrong." She glanced at her now broken sword as flood of tears made their way down her cheeks. "My… My life is… over."  
  
End of Chapter L  
  
How long did it take to figure out the plot of this one? It's certainly been a while since my last cliffhanger, hasn't it? See you next time--I'm sure you all know what'll happen then. 


	53. Ch51: Off the Beaten Path

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean and... um...  
  
Yeah, yeah, I know; that last one wasn't my best, but let's see if I can do better this time.  
  
Chapter LI: Off the Beaten Path  
  
The door to Motoko's room opened and Naru entered, carrying the girl who inhabited said room. Following close behind was a procession of mourners, who sat in a circle around the former swordswoman's futon as she was laid upon it. It was that one word that everyone just couldn't bring themselves to believe: former. For as long as they've known her, Motoko has been a strong warrior--in fact, her skills with the sword has always meant the world to her, but that all changed that fateful morning when her older sister happened to show up. The crazy series of events that followed left her with a broken sword and a heart to match. Sure, physically, she was alright, but emotionally and spiritually, she was a complete wreck.  
  
Ever since that encounter, Motoko had a blank look on her face. It seemed as though she was dead to the world, and what she said in that span only supported that theory: "My life is over." She hasn't said a word since. Those around her refused to accept the possibility that she had actually given up on life, but they had no other alternative at this point.  
  
"Is she going to pull through?" Mutsumi asked. How or why she had remained silent up until now was anyone's guess.  
  
"It's not like she's fighting cancer, Mutsumi," Kitsune said.  
  
"She might as well be," Shinobu muttered, barely able to keep her tears inside. "In one day, she has lost everything; her way of life, her family, her sword--"  
  
"On that note," Keitaro said, holding what was left of Motoko's weapon. "What should we do with this?"  
  
"We could have it buried with her," Kitsune said.  
  
"Now's not the time!" Naru said. "We have to think of some way to get her out of her depression. Anybody got any ideas?"  
  
"Food's always good!" Suu chimed in.  
  
"Eating doesn't solve everything, you know," Kitsune said.  
  
"It couldn't hurt," Suu muttered.  
  
"If only Sean was here," Shinobu said. "He'd know what to do."  
  
"Hey, why isn't he here?" Mutsumi asked. "Shouldn't he be here helping us try to console Motoko?"  
  
"Last I saw him, he was off running after Tsuruko," Keitaro said.  
  
"What good is that going to do?" Naru asked. "She beat Motoko without breaking a sweat. What does Sean hope to accomplish?"  
  
"Who knows what goes through that guy's mind?" Kitsune asked to nobody in particular.  
  
"I must be out of my mind," Sean said to himself. "I mean me, chasing after someone who could kill me faster than I can blink? That's just plain stupid!" When Tsuruko left after she had finished humiliating her little sister, he rushed off after her (after making a quick stop to get dressed). After twenty-five minutes, he found himself in the middle of downtown; he had long since lost sight of his target. "Why am I even doing this, anyway? What am I going to do if I actually find her, give her a lecture on family values or something? I really need to think through my actions more. Oh well, I've gone too far to turn back now."  
  
Sean continued on his way, looking high and low for any sign of Tsuruko. As he passed by an alley, something grabbed him and yanked him in. "Hey, what're you--" Sean started to say until he recognized who it was.  
  
"Why do you follow me?" Tsuruko asked. Sean could tell from the look on her face that she was all business; and so was he.  
  
"I think you know damn well why," Sean said, suddenly fearing no man--or woman. "You had no right to do what you did to your own sister."  
  
"I have every right," Tsuruko calmly said. "She has brought dishonor to her name."  
  
"Maybe so, but you have no idea what she's been through lately."  
  
"I'm listening."  
  
"A while back, we took a vacation in my hometown. Early on in our stay, Motoko met someone."  
  
"So she has gotten over her hatred of men," Tsuruko said.  
  
"She has. Over the next month, they spent most of their free time together, but they knew the time would come that we'd have to come back here; they haven't seen each other since. From that point on, I noticed a slow decline in her abilities. She misses him greatly and without any assurance that she'll ever see him again, she has lost all focus. What you did could only make things worse for her; there's no telling what she might do now that you've basically destroyed what little self-confidence she had left!" Keep in mind, Sean in unaware of Motoko's catatonic state back home. "Besides, if anyone should be punished for what has happened this morning, it should be me, as I was the one who started the lie in the first place."  
  
"You must care for Motoko a great deal if you're willing to do all this."  
  
"You have no idea."  
  
"Well, there is one way to restore Motoko's lost honor. Come to the God's Cry School in Kyoto; if you and Motoko can defeat me, I will reinstate her."  
  
"Thank you. I'll let her know right away."  
  
"However," Tsuruko said before Sean could leave. "If you fail…"  
  
"There had to be a catch," Sean thought.  
  
"…you will have to live up to your lie."  
  
"You don't mean--"  
  
"That's right. You and Motoko will be married."  
  
"Okay," Sean said after a moment of thought. "I'll talk to Motoko about it."  
  
"I look forward to your arrival." Tsuruko watched Sean leave, a look of slight curiosity in her eyes. "There's something about this man," she thought. "I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's definitely more to him than meets the eye."  
  
"What am I going to do?" Sean thought. "I mean, I know Motoko would jump at the chance to go back to being the warrior she once was, but is she willing to take such a risk to do it?" He recalled memories of the good times Motoko and Jimmy had together, and realized he was in the same boat. "For that matter, am I? If we lose, we'll be forced to marry; Shinobu and I may never see eye to eye again. Also, the odds aren't exactly in our favor. I don't think we even came close to seeing what Tsuruko's really capable of, not to mention Motoko not being at 100% lately. Then again, from the way things are looking right now, her depression may only get worse. Do I really want to see her like that? Sure, we may not stand a chance against Tsuruko, but even if we lose, at least she'll be with someone who cares about her, ever if it isn't who she'd want it to be. But still, Shinobu… and then there's Jimmy… damn it, why do I have to make decisions like this?!"  
  
That's how Sean's entire trip home went; with him weighing the pros and cons of each course of action. When he got back to Hinata-Sou, he was no closer to a final decision than when he started. Despite this, he was grateful to be there, as he could finally express his thoughts to someone who would be affected by the outcome besides himself. Opening the front door, he found Naru there, waiting for him. "And just where have you been for the last forty-five minutes?" she asked.  
  
"Was it really that long?" Sean said, looking at his watch for the first time since he left. "I was out chasing Tsuruko across town and back. Where's Motoko?"  
  
"She's in her room, but--"  
  
"Thanks," Sean said as he started heading in that direction, but he quickly found his path blocked by Naru.  
  
"You shouldn't go up there."  
  
"Why not? I need to talk to her."  
  
"You don't know what's happened since you left."  
  
"And you're not going to let me find out? I understand that the events of this morning took its toll on her."  
  
"That's putting it lightly."  
  
"As I was saying, I'm only trying to help. Now, I've got a lot on my mind right now, and I'm not exactly in the mood to start an argument with you. So, are you going to get out of my way, or will I have to do it for you?"  
  
Knowing that openly confronting Sean was never a wise thing to do, Naru stepped aside, but she did follow him up to Motoko room, where they saw her seated on her futon, her knees pressed up against her chest. She had changed out of her towel (or what was left of it) and into some regular clothes. All the others were still in the room. "Well," Naru said. "At least she's moving now. That's an improvement."  
  
"Not really," Kitsune said.  
  
"We've had to stop her from committing suicide five times now," Shinobu said.  
  
"And she still hasn't said a word since we brought her up here," Keitaro said.  
  
"Looks like I have my work cut out for me," Sean thought as he made his way to Motoko's side. "Has she been like this the whole time?" he asked, noticing the blank look on Motoko's face.  
  
"Ever since she got her butt kicked by her sister," Kitsune said.  
  
"And we haven't been able to snap her out of it," Mutsumi added.  
  
"Let me give it a try." Sean turned to the troubled ex-swordswoman. "Motoko?" She made a glance at him; the only sign the she knew he was even there. "I had a talk with Tsuruko. There's a way she'll let you come back to the school."  
  
"I have to defeat her, right?" Motoko asked flatly.  
  
"Sean's got her talking already!" Suu cheered.  
  
"Actually it'll be a team effort," Sean said, ignoring the energetic foreigner. "You and me against her, but it's not as simple as that."  
  
"What could be simpler than that?" Kitsune asked. "You two beat her, Motoko gets her life as a warrior back, everything gets back to normal."  
  
"Because of what'll happen if we fail, that what!"  
  
"And what's that?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
Sean shut his eyes tight; a clear sign that he didn't like what he was about to say. "The lie I started wouldn't be a lie anymore."  
  
Shinobu's eyes grew wide. "You don't mean--"  
  
"Yeah, there's going to be a wedding."  
  
All color left Shinobu's face. "You can't be serious, can you?!"  
  
"Those were Tsuruko's terms; somehow, I doubt they're up for debate."  
  
Just the thought of seeing Sean and Motoko as husband and wife was enough to bring Shinobu to tears. "Don't worry, Shinobu," Naru said. "Everything's going to be alright."  
  
"I couldn't stand it if Sean was forced to marry someone else," Shinobu sobbed.  
  
"Don't bother thinking about it." Everyone turned their attention to Motoko. "I'm not going."  
  
"You're what?" Sean asked.  
  
"There's no way I can beat my sister."  
  
"Maybe not by yourself, but if we work together, we may actually stand a chance!"  
  
"There's no point. My skills with the sword aren't what they used to be; you said so yourself. You shouldn't risk throwing your relationship with Shinobu away for my sake."  
  
"And I won't let you lose sight of your dreams just because I screwed up! Besides, what would Jimmy think if he saw you like this?"  
  
That question struck a very sensitive nerve, making Sean wish he had never asked it. "You just had to bring that up, didn't you?" Kitsune asked as everyone watched Motoko fall into a deeper stupor than before. "Now we're back to square one!" Sean didn't give a response; instead, he got up and walked toward the PlayStation in the far corner of the room. "Hey, I'm talkin' to you!"  
  
"Can it!" Sean yelled back, catching everyone off guard. Within moments of touching the game system, he dissolved. About thirty seconds later, he reappeared, sword in hand.  
  
"Hey," Naru said. "What are you--" Suddenly, it clicked in her head. "You're not going to fight Motoko's sister on your own, are you?!"  
  
"Aw darn, you figured it out," Sean said, his tone dripping with sarcasm. "And to think, I was so trying to keep it a secret."  
  
"There's no way you can beat Tsuruko!" Shinobu cried.  
  
"How do you know?" Sean asked as he headed for the door, but quickly found his girlfriend barring his path.  
  
"NO!" Shinobu screamed. "I WON'T LET YOU DO THIS!!"  
  
"Listen," Sean said. "I was the one who got us in this mess in the first place, so let me at least try and get us out."  
  
"Please," Shinobu said, tears still falling down her face. "Don't do this. If you were to lose, I'd never forgive you."  
  
"Then I'll just have to win, won't I?" Sean gave everyone a smile, a wink and a thumbs up. "See ya!" He took a small hop, then passed through the floor.  
  
"Hey, wait--!" Shinobu called out, but it was too late; he was already gone.  
  
"I really hope he knows what he's doing," Naru said, a look of concern on her face.  
  
"Hey, c'mon, y'all!" Kitsune said. "He can do it, we just have to have faith in him, that's all!"  
  
"That's easy for you to say," Keitaro muttered. "Just think about what's at stake here: The lives of three people are hanging on the outcome of one battle."  
  
"So? If you recall, he was involved in a fight where we all could have died!"  
  
"Then you also remember that he needed all of our help to win," Naru commented.  
  
"Um, well…" Kitsune didn't know who to respond, seeing how her little pep talk didn't help as much as she had hoped.  
  
Sean's train ride to Kyoto was very uneventful. He opted to take the hard route, as opposed to using his magic to get there, so as not to attract attention; if not from the general public, than from his opponent. If Tsuruko was anything like her younger sister, she would have sensed him coming from a mile away; hell, she still might. Plus, not having to concentrate on being his own transportation gave him the time to think of possible ways to succeed in the daunting task that was defeating Tsuruko.  
  
By the time he arrived in Kyoto, it was already early afternoon, and it took another hour (and asking for directions about half a dozen times) to find the God's Cry School. As he stepped through the front gate, he saw his fate standing in the open courtyard before him.  
  
"So you showed up after all," Tsuruko said. "And where is my dear sister and your soon-to be wife?"  
  
"Don't let her get to you," Sean thought, knowing how easy it was to do just that. "Well, thanks in part to you, Motoko is in no condition to fight anyone, much less her own sister."  
  
"And yet, you intend to take me on, even by yourself."  
  
"Yeah, I must be either incredibly brave or incredibly stupid."  
  
"One of your friends said that you, quote, 'got skills'. Is there truth to this?"  
  
"You might say that," Sean said. He hoped that keeping his magical abilities hidden for the time being might give him an edge. "I have been training with her for some time now. I haven't learned any of the ki techniques or anything, just the basic stuff."  
  
"Then how do you expect to defeat me?"  
  
"I've got a trick or two up my sleeve."  
  
"Might be interesting to see what he came up with," Tsuruko thought.  
  
"Well, shall we--hmm?" Tsuruko watched as Sean glanced to his left, his hand slowly reaching into his pocket…  
  
"I really don't think we should be doing this," Shinobu said.  
  
"It's a bit late for that," Kitsune said.  
  
"Shh," Suu said. "I'm trying to listen." The young technical genius had sent one of her spy planes after Sean to monitor his progress and now, everyone (including Motoko) was in the living room watching the feed on television. Right now, they could see the two combatants and heard the entire conversation up to this point.  
  
"Looks like he's really going through with it," Naru said.  
  
"Who knew the fight would be televised?" Mutsumi asked, getting some funny looks.  
  
"Um, anyway," Kitsune said. "What do you think the chances are of Sean actually beating her?"  
  
"Slim to none," Motoko said. She was able to recover somewhat over the last few hours. "Against me, he could hardly do better than a draw."  
  
"Uh oh," Naru said. "Something tells me I'm not going to look forward to this."  
  
"Hey, what's the deal?" Suu asked, her eyes never leaving the screen. "Why are they just standing there? Get with the fighting already!"  
  
"Hey, Suu!" Everyone was shocked to hear Sean's voice call out to them. "Why do you have to be so nosy?" Before anyone could react, he spun around to face them. In doing so, he flung something at them and the next thing they knew, the screen went blank.  
  
"Guess we should have seen that one coming," Kitsune said.  
  
"No kidding," Keitaro said.  
  
"Um, Motoko?" Shinobu said. "Did Sean ever use magic in your matches?"  
  
"No, he didn't," Motoko said.  
  
"Then there's still hope after all…"  
  
"No!" Suu cried as she cradled her controller; tears were starting to form in her eyes. "Why do my spy planes always end up broken?!"  
  
"Well, that takes care of them," Sean said as he watched Suu's machine fall out of a tree in a shower of sparks, a dagger buried hilt deep in the camera lens. "I have enough pressure as it is without them looking over my shoulder. A bunch of eavesdroppers, that's all they are."  
  
Meanwhile, Tsuruko looked on in mild interest, somewhat surprised by Sean's speed and accuracy. She couldn't help but think that the knife he used was originally intended for her. "I may have to use some caution," she thought. "There's no telling what else he might be hiding." She'll find out soon enough.  
  
"Well, now that that's out of the way," Sean said, turning back towards his opponent. "Shall we get started?"  
  
"Yes," Tsuruko said, unsheathing her sword; Sean did the same. "Prepare yourself, as this will not be an easy fight."  
  
"You don't have to tell me twice." And so, the battle that would--at least in part--decide the destinies of four people got under way.  
  
Tsuruko was the first to act, charging at Sean, sword raised to strike. For his part, Sean stood his ground, ready to block--or at least try to block--the forthcoming attack, but at the last moment, he sidestepped, making Tsuruko miss by mere inches. He attempted a counterattack, but Tsuruko jumped out of range before he could connect.  
  
"Okay," Tsuruko thought. "Either he had that planned the whole time, or he can think on his feet. Either way, it seems I shouldn't take anything he does for granted." She moved forward again, and this time around, the close combat lasted longer than the last one. Despite this, all strikes delivered were either dodged or blocked. "He's agile," Tsuruko thought. "I'll give him that much. Plus, his defense isn't half bad, but his attacks are sloppy, and that will prove to be his downfall."  
  
"She's toying with me, I know it," Sean thought. "But it can't last forever; I need to beat her to the punch." As soon as he got the chance, he got out of reach of Tsuruko's sword, running out to a distance of twenty feet.  
  
"Are you running away?" Tsuruko asked tauntingly.  
  
"You wish," Sean said. "Come get me; that is, if you're not scared."  
  
"Why that arrogant little…" Tsuruko thought, edging closer to anger. Intending on knocking his ego down a few pegs--among other things--she rushed at him.  
  
"Gotcha," Sean thought as he flicked a finger at her. Even though Tsuruko was still a good ten feet away, she recoiled as though she had been hit right between the eyes, almost falling backwards from her momentum.  
  
"How-- What--" Tsuruko thought, trying to rationalize what had just happened. Just as she was about to advance once more, Sean flicked her in the forehead again. "How is he doing that?" It wasn't until Sean flicked with both hands, hitting the back of her knees, making them give out from under her that realization set in. "It's his energy! He's using his ki to keep me at bay, but how? Neither Motoko nor myself know such techniques." When she regained her balance, she found Sean already upon her and was barely able to put up a defense in time. "Oh no," she said. "If you think you can beat me that quickly, you're sadly mistaken."  
  
"I figured as much," Sean replied.  
  
As the battle waged on, Tsuruko couldn't help but notice that Sean's movements were getting faster and faster. "He's been concealing his true power this whole time," she thought. "I must end this before I get in over my head." At her first opportunity, she put a bit of distance between them. "Let's see how he likes it when I use my abilities on him!" She swung her sword in Sean's direction, sending a wave of ki energy flying at him, but just as it was about to hit, Sean vanished, reappearing right in front of her.  
  
"Hello," Sean said with a grin as he made a quick swipe at Tsuruko.  
  
With a gasp of surprise, Tsuruko was barely able to escape from being struck down, but as she recovered from the shock, she saw that some damage had been done, as there was a slash mark on her gi. "What manner of sorcery do you possess?!" she yelled.  
  
"The regular kind," Sean simply replied, still smiling. "This is going better than I thought it would," he thought.  
  
"Why do you use such devious tactics in our battle?" Tsuruko asked.  
  
"Hey, you only said I had to beat you; you never said how." Sean charged at Tsuruko, blade raised to strike, but she easily blocked it, leaving him wide open for a kick to the chest. "So much for my advantage," he thought as he landed flat on his back. He watched on as Tsuruko leaped into the air and the next moment, another wave of energy was streaking towards him. "Uh oh," he said, crossing his arms in front of him.  
  
As she rose higher into the sky, a look of triumph appeared on Tsuruko face when she saw her attack make contact, but it wouldn't take long for her smile to fade and a groan of frustration to escape from her lips.  
  
"Is that all you got?" an unharmed Sean shouted out from beneath his light blue force shield.  
  
"Hardly!" Tsuruko shouted back. At this point, irritation had set in; therefore, she decided to end this fight once and for all. At the apex of her jump, she let out a battle cry and unleashed one of the strongest attacks she had.  
  
As Sean got up, he saw a streak of lightning heading straight for him. "Oh man," he thought. "I can't keep this up forever. I need to do something and fast if I want to come out of this alive, much less beat her." In a spur of the moment decision, he sent some of his energy into his weapon and swung it out just in time to intercept the bolt before it could hit him.  
  
During Tsuruko's descent, she was stunned to see that not only was Sean blocking her attack, but it seemed as though he was trying to redirect it back at her. She felt that she needed to prevent this from happening and, upon landing, was about to try that very thing when her senses picked up on a startling development. "It's actually being drawn inside him," she thought. She would have been worried for her own safety, but hearing Sean scream like he was let her know right away that this wasn't part of the original plan…  
  
By now, almost everyone had recovered from the shock of what they saw during those last few moments of video feed from Suu's spy plane and went on in their daily routines. The only ones who remained in the living room were Motoko and Shinobu; they just continued to stare at the blank television screen, as though it might give them some insight to what was going on in Kyoto. Finally, Shinobu broke the silence. "I'm scared, Motoko," she said. "What if he loses? What will happen to us then?"  
  
"I'm scared too," Motoko said, grabbing the younger girl's hand. "But we have to have faith in him. Knowing him the way we do, win or lose, I know that he'll give it his all."  
  
"I just wish I could be there to cheer him on instead of just sitting here."  
  
"You have the capacity to do that, you know."  
  
"Yes, but if I did, it might be distracting, and that's the last thing I want to do right now." All of a sudden, Shinobu felt pain shoot through her arm. "Uh, Motoko, could you loosen your grip a bit? It's starting to hurt." A quick glance at Motoko's face revealed the reason behind her actions. "What's happening?"  
  
"I can sense him," Motoko said, a look of shock on her face. "For that one brief moment, I could hear him as if he was right here next to us."  
  
"Tell me!" Shinobu said. "Is he winning?!"  
  
Motoko closed her eyes and slowly shook her head. "What I heard was a scream of agony."  
  
"No…" Shinobu broke down, burying her face in Motoko's chest. "He can't lose; he just can't!!"  
  
Motoko started rubbing Shinobu's back, trying to be comforting, but her mind was in a state of unrest as well. "What is going on out there?" she thought, looking back at the television screen. "What could cause such great pain?"  
  
"Damn it!" Inside Sean's subconscious, he angrily slammed a cordless X-Box controller onto the floor (somehow, it stayed in one piece) as warning lights appeared on the control panel. "I knew I should have tried to dodge that last one!" His self-deprecating rant was interrupted when he heard an evil, almost demonic laughter. "No, it can't be." He looked around, but he couldn't see anyone but himself then, without warning, he was kicked hard in the back of the head, sending him skidding along on his stomach a few feet. "Where are you?!" he asked, frantically searching for his assailant, not to no avail. All of a sudden, he felt the same foot make contact with his stomach, making him go on all fours. As he struggled to catch his breath, he spotted a pair of feet right in front of him.  
  
"You're still as weak as ever." In an instant, Sean recognized the voice, but he really wished he hadn't. A hand grabbed his chin and pulled his head up. Is was then that his fears were confirmed, as he stared Shonoko right in the face. "I told you I'd be back," she said, a look of malicious glee on her face. "It was just a matter of time. It's time I finished what I started so long ago."  
  
"No," Sean struggled to say. "You'll never win. I beat you last time, and I'll beat you again!"  
  
"Not likely," Shonoko said. "Last time, it took the effort of all your friends to overwhelm me. Nobody can help you this time. I will not be denied again."  
  
"Don't be so sure. I've gotten stronger since we last met."  
  
Shonoko just continued to smile. "You think you're the only one?"  
  
Meanwhile, on the outside, Sean was screaming uncontrollably. He had long since dropped his sword, dropped down onto his knees and was clutching his head.  
  
Tsuruko just stood there, watching his torment. "It seems that his attempt to use my attack against me has backfired," she thought. "And now, what he tried to deflect is threatening to tear him apart, mind and body. She slowly approached Sean's body, which coursed with lightning every so often, but she stopped in her tracks when his screaming formed into coherent words.  
  
"NO!! I WILL NOT LET YOU CONTROL ME AGAIN!!"  
  
"Control?!" Tsuruko blurted out. Sean's outburst only made her more curious as to what was going on. Deepening her focus, she soon saw that what Sean was experiencing rose the phrase "battle of wits" to a whole new level; and that it was one with more at stake than her own. "Somehow, my energy formed itself into a sentient being in Sean's mind and they are fighting for domination of his body." Upon realizing this, she decided to stay back and simply observe the fight, since it would have been dishonorable to strike someone when he is clearly incapable of defending himself, not to mention the fact that he would have been effectively outnumbered.  
  
Sean yelped in pain as he hit the wall back first, landing on his hands and knees. "Okay," he said. "I'm hurt now."  
  
"It's like I told you before," Shonoko said. "Without your friends around to help you, you're nothing."  
  
"You're one to talk," Sean muttered.  
  
"What are you talking about? I don't need friends to make me powerful."  
  
"Maybe that's because you don't have any," Sean shot back. "Egomaniacal bitch."  
  
Shonoko lifted Sean up by the throat and held him against the wall. "When will you ever learn to keep your trap shut?!"  
  
"When I'm dead."  
  
"I can easily arrange that." Shonoko tightened her grip on Sean's neck.  
  
As hard as he tried, Sean was unable to get free and it didn't take long to start having difficulty breathing. "Damn it," he thought. "If I don't do something quick, I'm done for. I need to figure out some way to catch her off-guard… that's it! She'd never see that coming in a million years!"  
  
Shonoko raised an eyebrow as Sean moved his hands from her wrists to her temples. "What is this idiot up to?" she thought. All of a sudden, a jolt of pain pulsed through her brain, but it only lasted a moment before it faded. "Is that it?!" She asked, unable to keep from laughing. "You are pathetic!" She was laughing so hard at that moment, she was unaware of Sean moving forward with step two of his plan of attack; or rather, moving her forward.  
  
Shonoko's eyes grew wide and her face turned a bright shade of red when she suddenly found Sean's lips pressed against her own. To say that she was dumbstruck would not have done her justice in the least. When Sean released her from the lip lock a few moments later, she found herself unable to speak, so Sean did it for her.  
  
"So long," Sean said, an evil grin on his face.  
  
"What?" Suddenly, the pain returned to Shonoko's head; this time with a greater intensity and for a much longer duration.  
  
"Never underestimate me," Sean said. The sound of Shonoko's gut-wrenching screams was music to his ears.  
  
Tsuruko sensed a change in Sean's aura. From what she could tell, the foreign energy was fading rapidly, but the overall amount stayed the same. "So his tactic was a success after all," she thought as she prepared herself for her battle to resume when her opponent stood back up, but found herself unable to stifle a gasp when he opened his eyes to reveal that they were glowing a deep blue.  
  
"Your turn," Sean said. Slowly, he raised an arm, pointing two fingers right at Tsuruko's head. "Time to end this. YAAA!!!" An immense bolt of pale blue lightning shot out of his outstretched arm. When he heard Tsuruko yelp in pain, he allowed himself a smile, figuring he had this fight won, but when his attack ended, he saw he was sadly mistaken.  
  
"You're right," Tsuruko said, her hand covering her badly burnt left ear; besides that and the gaping hole in her hair, she appeared to have escaped unharmed. "It is time to end this."  
  
Sean's arms hung loosely at his sides as he watched Tsuruko leap high into the sky in preparation for what should be the final blow. "That's it," he thought. "I have nothing left." He closed his eyes, awaiting his forthcoming defeat. "Shinobu, Motoko, everyone, I'm sorry; I have failed you all."  
  
End of Chapter LI  
  
Have I really lost or do I have one last trick up my sleeve? Find out next time! Please R&R! (Let's see; a fight with Tsuruko, an evil spirit threatening to wreak havok and disaster averted by a single kiss. Gee, am I original or what?) 


	54. Ch52: To the Victor

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
Ah, the master of suspense has arisen yet again. Sorry for taking so long with this one (or at least longer than usual); what with school and being out with my friends, my writing time has become quite limited.  
  
Chapter LII: To the Victor  
  
As Tsuruko made her descent towards him, Sean just stood there. Sure, he could try and get out of the way, but there wouldn't be much point to it. Even if he was able to grab his sword, his magical energy had run completely dry, as he put everything he had into his last attack, but all it did was burn Tsuruko's ear and take a chunk out of her hair. (In fact, he was surprised he could still stand on his own two feet.) He knew damn well he couldn't beat Motoko without resorting to sorcery, so continuing this fight with her older, more powerful sister would be an exercise in futility.  
  
The only thing that made this whole situation worse was the thought of what the others would do and say when he returned. Sure, everyone would be disappointed in him for losing, but he was more worried about two of them in particular. First, there was Shinobu; being forced to break ties with his girlfriend of thirteen months would break her heart, and he couldn't be sure if she'd ever speak to him again, knowing just how opposed she was to him coming to Kyoto in the first place.  
  
Then there was Motoko. For all he knew, she was still sitting in her room in a fetal position and the news of him losing could only make things worse for her, knowing that she'll never be a warrior again. That plus her having to forget about Jimmy would conspire against her ever experiencing true happiness again. Of course, being married to Motoko might not be such a bad thing. Both of them cared for each other a great deal; granted not at that level, but given time, they could learn to truly love one other.  
  
Before the battle began, such thoughts would have been considered blasphemy, but now, they seemed more like a grim reality. When Sean opened his eyes, time seemed to slow down a great deal. He could see Tsuruko falling towards him, sword ready to make the final blow against him. It was here that any thoughts of victory quickly turned to those of mere survival. At least he could take some comfort in the fact that he gave it his all and that the fight wasn't completely one-sided. He shut his eyes again, hoping that his adversary's attack wouldn't prove fatal. "Oh God, somebody help me," he found himself saying out loud, even though he was sure no one else was within earshot.  
  
When time returned to normal speed, Sean waited for his defeat to be official, but Tsuruko's strike never came. Maybe it all happened so fast, he couldn't feel it. Maybe she refused to attack a defenseless opponent. Maybe she disappeared off the face of the earth. Okay, that last one was a bit far-fetched. Whatever the reason might have been, curiosity took over, forcing him to open his eyes again to see a very unexpected sight.  
  
Standing between Sean and Tsuruko was a man dressed from head to toe in black. As far as Sean could figure out, he looked like some sort of ninja, but that didn't matter at the moment. What did was the fact that… whoever it was… was blocking Tsuruko's blade with one of his own. "Uh," Sean said, looking up to the heavens. "Thank you!"  
  
On the other end, Tsuruko was utterly baffled. To her, this new addition appeared right out of thin air. She didn't see, hear or even sense him coming. "Who the hell are you?!" she asked, backing off. "And why do you interfere in our match?"  
  
Sean's mouth starting working before his brain. "Damn, you just can't seem to get a break today, can you? I mean, every time you think you've won, something happens."  
  
"Shut up!" Tsuruko said, now thoroughly pissed off. "You have a wedding to prepare for, remember?"  
  
"Not if I can help it," the mystery man said.  
  
"And what right do you have to interrupt this fight?!" Tsuruko asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sean added. "Who are you?"  
  
The ninja turned to face Sean; out of his entire body, all Sean could see besides his outfit was his glowing, yellowish eyes. "Just think of me as an ally."  
  
"Uh, okay."  
  
"Hey!" Tsuruko said getting the man (who we shall refer to as simply Ninja) to turn his attention back to her. "You still haven't answered my question! Why are you here?!"  
  
"He asked for help," simply Ninja said. (Sorry, I know that was corny, but I just couldn't help myself.) "It's as simple as that."  
  
"You actually heard that?" Sean asked.  
  
"But you have no right to barge in on something that doesn't involve you! Now leave this place at once so we may continue!"  
  
"Your fight with him is over," Ninja said. "It's my turn now."  
  
"Do you think it's fair that I have to fight two opponents?"  
  
"I think so," Sean said. "After all, I had to fight two people in this fight. I think it's perfectly fair that you do the same."  
  
Tsuruko had to admit that Sean's logic was somewhat plausible. Upon hearing his words, she felt that her victory what have been somewhat tarnished if it was because he was basically outnumbered. Even if he wasn't, she was expecting a two-on-one battle anyway, and by him accepting her challenge by himself, she thought--at least until he revealed his magical abilities to her--he was at a disadvantage from the get go. "Alright," she finally said. "I will allow this man to be Motoko's substitute, but there will be no further intrusions, understand?"  
  
"No sweat," Sean said. Ninja merely nodded. "I'll get out of your way," Sean continued, slowly making his way to where his sword rested.  
  
"You're still in this fight," Tsuruko reminded.  
  
Sean shook his head. "I can barely stand up right now, much less fight anyone." He bent down to grab his sword and grunted as he got back upright, "That last attack left me spent. All I'd be good for is getting in his way. Besides, two on one isn't really fair, is it?" He hobbled his way off to the side, where he hoped no stray shots could reach him.  
  
Tsuruko's senses proved Sean right. Indeed, he wouldn't have lasted two seconds longer in his current state, so she allowed him to sit this one out in favor of his new teammate. "Let's continue this fight."  
  
Without a word, Ninja moved back about fifteen feet in what looked like a blur to Tsuruko. (Sean didn't ever see the bur.) He sheathed his wakizashi and brandished his own katana. At the same time, they charged each other, leaped and met in mid-air. They only had time for a couple shots before they flew by, landing where each other began. Without missing a beat, they turned around and exchanged blows on solid ground. From Sean's standpoint, it appeared to be a stalemate.  
  
The standoff lasted for only a couple minutes, even though it seemed like hours. It was at this point that both Tsuruko and Ninja somehow managed to disarm each other, sending each sword flying. This little development wouldn't stop the match however, as the two now tried to hit each other with fists and feet.  
  
From his seat on the sidelines, Sean just watched on in silence. "I forgot what it was like to just watch a fight as opposed to participating in one," he thought.  
  
Up to this point, not a single blow has been thrown that wasn't blocked, but it wouldn't last indefinitely. Simultaneously, they both landed a punch to the other's face, knocking them backwards a ways, coincidentally, within arm's reach of their lost weapons. Not wasting any time, Tsuruko snatched up her sword and rushed towards Ninja.  
  
Unfortunately, luck was not on Ninja's side, as his sword had imbedded itself in the ground, making it hard to retrieve. It took some effort, but he was finally able to pry his weapon loose, but it was about a split-second too late. Before he could get away, Tsuruko connected, making a diagonal cut across his chest. After he got to a safe distance and briefly inspected the damage, he looked Tsuruko right in the face. "You'll wish you hadn't done that," he said.  
  
Much to Tsuruko's amazement, Ninja's already glowing eyes intensified for a moment, akin to that of a camera flash. (Sean didn't see this, as he was at a bad angle.) The next moment, Ninja was literally running circles around his adversary. Tsuruko found herself immobilized by this since, from her perspective, there appeared to be five or six people circling her, and any ki output was so faint, she was unable to figure out which one was the real thing.  
  
All of a sudden, a sharp pain shot up Tsuruko's left arm as the reverse side of Ninja's blade made contact, making it fall limp at her side. Moments later, her right arm was hit the same way, a look of panic appearing on her face as her sword fell from her grip.  
  
After a shot to her leg, forcing her down on one knee, Ninja finally stopped in front of her, pointing his sword at her, it mere inches from her face. "Do you yield?" he asked.  
  
It took a few moments for Tsuruko to get over the shock of having three limbs basically disabled in a manner of seconds. "Yes," she eventually said. "I yield."  
  
Ninja put his sword away. "You will regain feeling in your limbs in a few hours."  
  
Soon, Sean was at her side. "Are you alright?" he asked.  
  
When Sean placed a hand on Tsuruko's shoulder, she shrugged him off violently, her arms swinging uselessly at her side as she did so. "You won your match! Motoko shall be allowed to return to the school and any future plans for marriage are null and void. I do not need your pity!"  
  
"I never said it was," Sean said. "I will not let you crawl away from this battle on your hands and knees. Allow me to help you inside."  
  
Tsuruko did not possess the strength to resist him as he grabbed her by the arm and helped her to her feet--well, foot. "Why are you doing this?"  
  
"I don't recall hearing that we were true enemies," Sean said. "I only came here because beating you was the only way I could get Motoko out of her depression. There's not a lot I wouldn't have done to make her smile again. Despite all this, I knew you would never make it easy for me."  
  
"You fought remarkably well," Tsuruko said. "Even though your tactics were quite unorthodox."  
  
"Well, we all have our talents. Personally, I hate having to use them like I did today, but I had no other option. When I get my energy back, I'll repair the damage I did to your ear and hair."  
  
"You don't have to--"  
  
"I insist. I don't want there to be any hatred between us."  
  
Slowly, they would make their way to the main building, but stopped at about halfway. "Why did you stop?" Tsuruko asked.  
  
"It's just that I forgot to thank--" He looked back, but found that Ninja was nowhere to be seen. "Uh, never mind."  
  
--- 7:12 PM  
  
"Here," Shinobu said as she served dinner. All happiness had long since vanished from the Hinata Apartments; even Suu lost her usual energetic demeanor. Any attempts at conversation were in vain, and this meal would be no different. Midway through the deathly silence, the phone rang.  
  
"I'll get it," Naru said, getting up to answer the phone. "Hello?" she said unenthusiastically.  
  
"Hey, Naru. Guess who?"  
  
"Sean?!" In an instant, the dining room was empty, as everyone gathered around the phone. "Sean, where are you?!"  
  
"Still in Kyoto," Sean said from the other line. "My fight with Tsuruko left me spent, and she let me spend the night here to let me get my strength back."  
  
"It lasted that long?!"  
  
"Nah, it's been over for a few hours now. Since there isn't a phone handy, I had to wait until I could contact you in my own way."  
  
"I see." Without warning, the phone was yanked out of Naru's grasp.  
  
"SEAN!!"  
  
"Hey, not so loud Shinobu," Sean said. "You'll bust my eardrums."  
  
"I'm sorry. When are you getting back?"  
  
"I'll be there tomorrow morning. Please keep it together till then. Tell Motoko that too."  
  
"Sean, please tell me, did you--" Shinobu slowly removed the receiver from her ear. "He hung up."  
  
"Why does he have to keep us in suspense like this?!" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I'm sure he has his reasons," Keitaro said.  
  
"Maybe he's writing a victory speech," Mutsumi said.  
  
"Or he could he coming up with a good way to break the bad news to us."  
  
"Motoko, don't say that!" Shinobu cried.  
  
"Yeah," Naru said. "We have to stay positive."  
  
"Against my sister," Motoko said. "Nothing is a certainty."  
  
"The same can be said for Sean, you know," Kitsune said. "In case you forgot, he's somewhat of a miracle worker."  
  
"We'll all find out tomorrow when he gets back," Shinobu said. "Until then, let's try not to think about it." Slowly, everyone made their way back to the dining room and continued eating.  
  
After Suu finished, she decided to let her ongoing war with the neighbor keep her mind off the possible outcome of Sean's fight with Tsuruko. As she entered the room, she noticed that the lights weren't working. "Hmm," she said. "That's weird." She shrugged her shoulders. "Oh well; it'll be easy enough to fix." She flipped the switch, transforming the jungle into the lab and went about getting the lights working again.  
  
That's when she heard it. It was faint, but she recognized it as laughter--evil laughter--coming from the far corner of the room. Suu quickly made her way to make the voice came from, but nobody was there. "Maybe I'm just hearing things," she said. As if in response to what she said, the laughter came again; this time, just a bit louder and from the other end of the room. "Okay, I know I heard that." Like a shot, she ran over and searched for the source, but still found nothing. Hearing it a third time, again from behind her, she quickly turned around. "Alright, where are--" She stopped short when she found glowing yellowish eyes only inches from her own. "--you…"  
  
It didn't take long for the others to get to Suu's room after her blood-curdling scream, and was about to enter when Suu left, busting the door down in the process. "Suu, what's wrong?!" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah, what happened?" Keitaro added a bit weakly from under the door.  
  
"It's our neighbor!" Suu half-shrieked. "He's finally come to get me!"  
  
While Shinobu set the door back in place and checked on Keitaro's condition, everyone else searched Suu's room high and low for any sign of intrusion, but found nothing. "Are you sure there was someone in here?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Maybe it was just your overactive imagination," Kitsune added.  
  
"It WAS real!" Suu yelled. "I saw the glowing eyes right in front of me!"  
  
"Well," Kitsune said. "If there was anyone here, they're gone now."  
  
"How could a pair of eyes get around on their own?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"When they're connected to somebody's head, that's how," Naru replied.  
  
"Oh, right," Mutsumi said, holding the back of her head, her usual ditzy grin on her face.  
  
"Sometimes, I wonder if she just says those things on purpose," Naru thought.  
  
"How could anyone get in without any of us knowing?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Yeah," Shinobu said. "If he can sneak into Suu's room of all places and get out without been seen…" This was mostly due to the fact that the door was the only way in or out. "…than what does that mean for the rest of us?"  
  
"If anyone here is at risk, it's me," Suu said. "None of you have gotten involved in our war."  
  
"You do have a point there," Kitsune said.  
  
"I don't feel safe sleeping alone tonight, knowing that there's someone out there who might be watching my every move," Suu said, edging closer to Motoko. "Could I bunk with you?"  
  
"I don't know," Motoko said. "After what happened today, I'm not in the frame of mind to protect anyone. Maybe Naru would be a more suitable choice for you right now."  
  
"Why me?" Naru asked.  
  
"Next to me and Sean, you've been the most powerful fighter here."  
  
"Unless your punches aren't what they once were," Kitsune added tauntingly.  
  
"You want me to test your theory?" Naru asked, balling her fists in the process.  
  
"No, that's alright."  
  
"Smart move." Naru turned her attention back to Suu. "You can stay with me tonight."  
  
"Thank you!" Suu said, jumping up on Naru's back, wrapping her legs around her waist and her arms around her neck.  
  
"I hope I don't regret this," Naru thought.  
  
For what it's worth, the night went peacefully on all fronts and bright and early the next morning, the trip back to Hinata-Sou went under way, but Sean didn't go it alone. He had a traveling companion in the form of his former adversary, Tsuruko. After their battle came to a surprising end, the two spent their time in deep conversation, swapping stories and the like. One in particular that Motoko's sister found interesting was the events that led to his first encounter with Shonoko; it was a tale that answered some nagging questions in the woman's mind.  
  
The train ride back was very peaceful and in what seemed like no time at all, they had arrived at Hinata and was making their way to the girl's dorm.  
  
--- Sunday, 8/24 9:22 AM  
  
"You are unlike any man I have ever known," Tsuruko said. "Not only in abilities, but in character as well."  
  
"I guess I've always been a bit unique. By friends from back in the states can certainly attest to that."  
  
"I want to thank you again for what you did last night." Before any of you get any ideas, Sean only restored Tsuruko's ear and hair back to the way it was before Sean's final attack did its damage.  
  
"No sweat," Sean said. "I prefer using my talents in that way anyhow, and I like to think I'm better at it as well."  
  
"Motoko is certainly fortunate to have a friend such as yourself. If I may ask, why did you not say you won the fight when you contacted them?"  
  
"I wanted it to be a surprise. Besides, I don't think I was ready for a long, drawn-out explanation then."  
  
"It seems you have a thing for the dramatic."  
  
"I suppose." After a few moments, Sean started again. "You know, I can't help but wonder who that guy was that helped me out yesterday."  
  
"You mean you didn't know him?"  
  
Sean shook his head. "I didn't recognize him." It was at this point that they reached the familiar front steps of Hinata-Sou. "Well, here we are."  
  
Upon hearing Sean start to laugh, Tsuruko shot him a look of confusion. "What's so funny?"  
  
"I just thought of a way to announce my arrival…"  
  
That morning, a late breakfast was served; and everyone present could tell right away that Naru has had better days. "Motoko," she said, holding her ribs. "The next time Suu wants to room with someone, it's going to be you, not me!"  
  
"Speaking of which, where is she?" Shinobu asked. "It's not like her to miss a meal."  
  
"She's still asleep up in my room," Naru said. "Yesterday was a bit rough on her. Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be down soon enough."  
  
"When did Sean say he'd get back again?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Sometime this morning," Shinobu said. "I wish he could just get here and tell us what happened in Kyoto."  
  
"At least he survived," Mutsumi said. "That must count for something."  
  
"I never doubted that for a second. It's just that if he lost, in my eyes, he might as well have died in the fight."  
  
"How do you think I feel?" Motoko asked. "You only lose a boyfriend. Not only do I lose my boyfriend, but I'm forced to marry your boyfriend and I must forsake my life as a warrior on top of that. I have more at stake in the outcome of Sean's fight with my sister than anyone."  
  
"Shinobu, Motoko, calm down," Keitaro said. "When Sean gets back, we'll find out how it all went and we'll deal with it then."  
  
Shinobu and Motoko didn't give much of a response, only muttering something under their breaths.  
  
Suu stirred slightly as she woke up. She found sharing a futon with Naru very comforting, getting her to think that she should start making a habit of it. To think, it was her being scared half to death that led to it. On that note, she was glad that the creepy neighbor didn't try anything overnight, but when she opened her eyes, she found herself staring into those eyes again. "Huh?!"  
  
"Your soul is mine," he said.  
  
"NO!" Suu quickly got out of bed and ran out of the room, hearing sinister laughter from behind her. When she got to the stairs, she jumped down the first flight in one shot and did the same with the second, but her landing on the ground floor would be cut short, as Keitaro just had to be walking by at that moment, just in time to get kicked in the head.  
  
"Well," Kitsune said. "Looks like somebody's cheered up this morning." She then saw Suu immediately latch herself to Naru's back, a panicked expression on her face. "Uh, maybe not."  
  
"What's wrong?" Naru said, barely able to breath.  
  
"The neighbor's back!" Suu cried. "Don't let him take my soul!!"  
  
"Suu, calm down," Shinobu said, prying Suu off Naru. "Everything's going to be alright."  
  
"C'mon," Naru said, catching her breath a bit. "I've had it with this guy scaring Suu. I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind."  
  
Motoko's head suddenly turned towards the front door. "Wait, Naru," she said.  
  
"What?" Naru asked.  
  
Motoko didn't say anything else, but walked towards the door. "It has to be," she thought. When she opened it, her suspicions were confirmed.  
  
"See?" Sean asked. "I didn't even have to knock."  
  
As Sean and Tsuruko entered, the others came to see who it was. "SEAN!" Shinobu yelled, running over and was about to hug him, but stopped short. "Um, how did you do?"  
  
"Was there ever a doubt in your mind?" Sean asked, smiling. This time, Shinobu didn't stop, wrapping her arms tightly around him, shedding tears of joy.  
  
"You mean you actually won?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Yes," Tsuruko said. "He was victorious. Motoko, you are hereby readmitted into the God's Cry School."  
  
"And her marriage with Sean?"  
  
"Cancelled."  
  
"Thank you, sister," Motoko said, crying just a bit herself. "How were you able to defeat her, Sean?"  
  
"Magic, of course," Sean said. "Though I did have some… unexpected help."  
  
"What kind of help?" Naru asked.  
  
Suu, who was in the back of the group, suddenly heard a voice, audible just enough for nobody else to catch. "There's no point in running, you know," it said. "I will have your soul."  
  
"Uh, guys…!" Suu said.  
  
"What?" Keitaro asked. Everyone turned around to see a man all in black standing right behind Suu. "Oh."  
  
"YOU!!" Suu quickly get out of harm's way as Naru rushed over to give whoever it was a thrashing.  
  
"Naru, wait--" Sean said, but it was too late. A split second before Naru's fist would have made contact with the man's head, he vanished. "Uh, Naru?"  
  
"What?" Naru said, gritting her teeth as she regained her balance from her botched strike.  
  
"That was the guy that helped me yesterday."  
  
"Well, I'm sorry for not being appreciative, but he's been terrorizing Suu since last night!"  
  
Sean looked at Naru in disbelief. "Why would he do that?"  
  
"You mean you don't know?" Kitsune asked. "That's our neighbor; the one Suu been at war with for the last month."  
  
Sean still had a somewhat skeptical look on his face. "Is that right?"  
  
"Am I the only one worried about where he went?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Weren't you able to sense the energy he gave off?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
Motoko shook her head. "There was none."  
  
"I cannot say I am surprised," Tsuruko said. "When he came to Sean's aid, he seemed to appear out of nowhere; even I couldn't sense him coming. Whatever his abilities are, they only require extremely small traces of ki, if any at all."  
  
"If my own sister can't track him," Motoko said. "Then isn't much we can do to combat him."  
  
"I don't know why we'd want to," Sean thought. "I mean, if it wasn't for him, I'd still be engaged to Motoko right now."  
  
All of a sudden, Ninja appeared right behind Motoko, grabbing her lightly on the arms, just below the shoulders. "You catch on quickly, my dear," he whispered in her ear loud enough for everyone to hear. Upon feeling Ninja's breath in a such a sensitive spot, Motoko instantly froze up and a deep blush appeared on her face.  
  
"Who the hell are you?!" Naru yelled.  
  
"And why do your eyes glow?" Suu added.  
  
"That is a simple matter," Ninja said, letting go of Motoko. He raised his hands towards his face and appeared to remove something from his eye sockets and toss them in Suu's direction.  
  
"Contact lenses?" Suu inquired after a brief inspection.  
  
"You still haven't answered my question," Naru said.  
  
"And I'm surprised you haven't figured it out by now," Ninja shot back. This time, his hands reached for the part of his outfit that covered most of his face and slowly removed it. "Recognize me now?"  
  
A series of gasps rang out among the group, quite possibly the biggest coming from Motoko. "J-Jimmy?!"  
  
"In the flesh."  
  
With a squeal of delight, Motoko brought Jimmy in a tight embrace. "I can't believe it; it's really you!!"  
  
"Did you know about this, Sean?" Kitsune asked, crossing her arms.  
  
"I'm just as surprised as the rest of you," Sean said in his own defense. "Though it does answer some questions."  
  
"If I may ask," Tsuruko said. "Who is this Jimmy and why do you all know him?"  
  
"Remember when I said that Motoko met someone in Myrtle Beach?" Sean asked.  
  
Tsuruko nodded knowingly. "I see."  
  
"Why didn't you tell me you were here sooner?!" Motoko asked.  
  
"I wanted it to be a surprise," Jimmy said. "That's why I went to war with Suu; to keep it that way."  
  
"And you scaring her half to death last night and this morning?" Naru asked.  
  
"What, a guy can't have a little fun every now and then?"  
  
"Hey, Sean," Kitsune said as Jimmy and Naru got into a shouting match--well, Naru was doing most of the shouting. "You gotta tell us what happened in Kyoto. I'm dying to hear the play-by-play."  
  
"Why didn't you go check my vault?" Sean said, a grin on his face.  
  
"You mean I could have looked up yesterday's video and watched it all this time?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Well, what are we waiting for?!" Kitsune grabbed Sean by the shirt. "LET'S GO ALREADY!!" Kitsune ran off towards Sean's room, with him in tow; it didn't take long for everyone to follow. Along the way, Suu kept glaring at Jimmy.  
  
"Don't think our war is over for a second," she thought. "I won't give up the fight just because we know who you really are."  
  
End of Chapter LII  
  
Well, another exciting chapter draws to a close. What will happen now that Jimmy has made his presense known? See you next time! Please R&R! 


	55. Ch53: Behind Door Number One

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me and Jimmy is a friend and fan.  
  
It's been a while, I know, but times have been a bit rough on me lately. I've had 4 tests and 2 papers due over the span of 4 school days, limiting my writing time. Even when this fic was in my thoughts, it wasn't in the here and now; instead I kept thinking about what will happen in the chapter following this one, #57 and (I think) #61. You'll have to wait till then to see what plagues my brain.  
  
Also, in case you came straight here instead of taking the path through the site, I will be accepting ideas for what will be chapter 58. The time frame for it will be January/February 2010. (It's currently 2008) Let me know if any of you have any ideas for me.  
  
Chapter LIII: Behind Door Number One  
  
And so, the cycle continues yet again; after the excitement (and for some, the torment) of what happened, things started to get back to normal. It was obvious to everyone that Motoko was happier then ever upon seeing Jimmy again and made it perfectly clear that she would never let him go if she could help it. Shinobu was also glad things turned out for the best, as heartbreak was never something she wished to experience in her lifetime.  
  
Out of everyone however, it was Sean who was most relieved by the results, as the whole thing was his fault to begin with. He kept mentally kicking himself knowing that he had put two relationships (including his own) and Motoko's career in serious jeopardy. If only he had been able to keep his trap shut during Tsuruko's first visit, it never would have happened, but there was just something about Motoko being dragged away kicking and screaming that he just couldn't tolerate, even if it was by her own sister.  
  
Despite everyone's attempts to put him at ease, he just couldn't get over the guilt that had put a stranglehold on his heart. He knew damn well that if Jimmy hadn't saved his ass back in Kyoto (or if he had made better use of the power boost he got from defeating Shonoko) he would be married to Motoko right now. Even though he was well aware that it was all in the past and that he shouldn't dwell on it, the "what ifs" just kept coming. He would have promised himself that he'd never take such outrageous risks concerning the hearts of others again, but for some reason, he wasn't sure if he'd be able to keep it for very long.  
  
The day's events also had an affect on someone else. Granted, Suu usually spent a good amount of her time in her room doing God knows what, but there's been more to it than that as of late. Her normal hyper behavior had all but vanished. Instead, she always looked deep in thought, as though planning something big; indeed, that was exactly what she was doing. After the identity of her enemy became public knowledge, she found herself forced to rethink her strategy. For starters, there would be no further direct confrontations made against Jimmy, as it might provoke the aggression of Motoko as well. She thought back to what started the war in the first place; that there was something in Jimmy's house that he didn't want her to see, and she'd be damned if she wasn't going to find out what. This would call for something more subtle, and all she could do as this point is sit tight and wait for an opportunity to come her way…  
  
--- Saturday, 8/30 11:50 AM  
  
"Are you sure we should be doing this?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah," Sean added. "Maybe we should have called first."  
  
"Aw, c'mon," Kitsune said. "If we did, it wouldn't be a surprise, would it?" The whole group was heading towards Jimmy's place for lunch and perhaps a tour as well.  
  
"What do you think, Motoko?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"I don't think he would mind," Motoko said. Among everyone, she has been the most curious (or at least openly so) about what was in Jimmy's house. Even though the recently reunited couple spent a great deal of time together over the last week, it has always been Jimmy paying a visit to Motoko, not the other way around.  
  
"I wonder what kind of food he's got," Suu muttered.  
  
"We'll find out soon enough," Sean said. "What is up with her?" he thought. "Even when she talks about food, she's not excited. I gotta have a talk with her later on and see if anything's wrong." Indeed, there was something going on, but it wasn't something that could be resolved by a mere chat between friends.  
  
When they reached Jimmy's place, they marveled in the sheer size of it up close. "Dang," Kitsune said. "This place is almost as big as Hinata-Sou! What use could he have for so much space?"  
  
"Yes, what indeed?" Suu thought.  
  
Motoko volunteered to go knock on the door. A few moments passed with nothing happening. "Maybe he's on the far side of the house and didn't hear," Shinobu said. Motoko knocked again, harder this time, but there was still no response.  
  
"Where is he?" Naru thought out loud.  
  
"Hmm," Sean thought. "I wonder…" Without warning, Sean started walking towards the corner of the building.  
  
"Hey," Naru said. "Where are you off to?"  
  
"I'm going to check and see if there's another door. You stay there, just in case he answers that one." With that, Sean rounded the corner, disappearing from view.  
  
"…So…" Kitsune said, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "Anybody read any good books lately?"  
  
About a minute later, Sean reappeared and, motioned everyone to follow him, then disappeared around the corner again. As everyone curiously made their way around the house, they started to hear faint music in the direction in which Sean was leading them. When they saw said man again, he was standing next to what could only have been a garage, but it looked like one from a professional body shop than anything else.  
  
"What's going on?" Naru asked.  
  
"I found Jimmy," Sean said, pointing at a window. Looking inside, they could see him working on a car. "I think we should give him a surprise, don't you?"  
  
"Allow me," Motoko said, making her way to the door, but they were in for a surprise of their own when she opened it. All of a sudden, they were blasted by the heavily cracked up sound of AC-DC.  
  
"Oh my God!" Shinobu yelled as she put her hands against her ears; her voice could barely be heard above the noise. "Why is it so loud?!"  
  
"Okay," Sean muttered. "That's about enough of that." He snapped his fingers and the music came to an abrupt end, getting the attention of a certain someone.  
  
"Hey, what gives?" Jimmy asked, getting out from underneath the car to find the Hinata Crew at the door. "Oh, hey. What's up?"  
  
"Oh man, I think my ears are bleeding," Kitsune said. "Why did you have the music turned up so high?!"  
  
Jimmy just shrugged. "So, what brings you here?"  
  
"We figured we'd just stop by for lunch and maybe you can show us around the place," Sean said. "No wonder you weren't able to hear us knocking on the front door."  
  
"What were doing under there?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Just working on the transmission," Jimmy said, walking over to a sink to wash the grease and grime off his hands. "Hey, Suu, if you want, you can come over and help me out from time to time."  
  
Suu just mumbled something under her breath, refusing making eye contact. The prospect of working on something full-sized did sound appealing to her, but she still had a mission to complete and now was not the time to be distracted from her objective.  
  
Jimmy led everyone inside the main building and guided them to the kitchen, which looked all too big for only one person. Of course, this seemed to be the running theme of the entire house, so it was sort of to be expected at this point. "I'll whip something up real quick," Jimmy said. "It'll only take a minute."  
  
"Knowing Suu's appetite, it might take longer than that," Sean said.  
  
Suu wasn't listening to the conversation, as her full attention was drawn to a certain point on the wall, where a doorknob could barely be seen. Aside from this, there was no sign that there could ever have been a door there. This was it. All this time, that was what Suu has been after. She wanted--no, she needed to know what was behind that door that Jimmy didn't want her to see. Now that it was in her sights, the only thing left was to figure out how to go about getting in there. Obviously, she wasn't about to try anything now, as there were too many people around. She knew that she would have to wait a while longer for an opportunity to present itself.  
  
Lunch went by in an orderly manner and the time soon came for the tour, but Jimmy had a bit of difficulty in deciding where to begin. Eventually, he settled on starting from the top and working his way down. Stops were made at his room, the guest room (which Motoko took some interest in), the living room, game room (which had a video game stash rivaling Suu's) and so on until there was only one place left. "And now…" Jimmy said, leading the group up to the second floor of the garage. "The pièce de résistance."  
  
"Wow," Shinobu says.  
  
"You said it," Kitsune added. The second floor was just one big room, its walls lined with all manner of martial arts weapons.  
  
"I have never seen such weaponry in all my life," Motoko said, taking in as much as her eyes will allow. "How did you get it all?"  
  
"You'd be surprised what you can get if you know where to look," Jimmy said.  
  
While everyone was gawking at Jimmy's impressive arsenal, an idea sparked in Suu's mind. This was about as far from the kitchen as any other place in the whole house. Now would be the perfect time to make her move. All she had to do was figure out a way to get away from the group without arousing suspicion; and she may have done just that.  
  
It took a little while, but Jimmy noticed that Suu was fidgeting just a bit. He looked a her curiously for a moment until he finally caught on. "Bathroom's downstairs," he said. Suu nodded, then rushed out. "Hmm," he thought. "I wonder…"  
  
"All too easy," Suu thought as she reentered the main building. Obviously, the whole bathroom routine was just an act. "He has no clue as to what I'm doing." She quickly made her way back to the kitchen and the secret door therein. "Time to see what his big secret is." She twisted the knob and, much to her surprise, the section of wall slid aside on its own accord. "Cool."  
  
Suu stepped past the doorway and entered a narrow, dimly lit passageway leading down. She made her way down the stairs slowly and cautiously, constantly looking around for anything that might jump out at her. This sudden paranoia was not unwarranted, as she had learned from the prior encounters with Jimmy that he was capable of many things and that if what he kept hidden in this corridor was so secret there's no telling how strong the defenses might be.  
  
Much to her relief, she made it to the bottom safely and continued along the path as it double-backed. She only went about fifteen feet before she caught sight of her goal in the form of a metal door at the end of the hall. "This is it," Suu said. This whole war was started because of what's behind that door."  
  
As she got closer, she noticed that there were no knob or handle on the door. Instead, there was a button off to the side. Upon pressing it, a female, computerized voice chimed in. "Please enter ten-digit access code."  
  
Suu just stared blankly at the door for a moment. "…What?" A full-sized keyboard appeared from within the door itself, about chin high on Suu. "Looks like I finally found the defenses," she muttered. "Okay, let's see…" She began pressing random letters and numbers, knowing full well that the chance of them being the right ones were slim at best.  
  
Upon pressing enter, the keyboard retracted back from whence it came and the voice came back with a simple message. "Access denied."  
  
"Darn it," Suu said, snapping her fingers. All of a sudden, two metal bands sprouted out of the floor, strapping Suu's feet to the floor. "Hey, what the--?!" She didn't get to finish her sentence, as she noticed a metal rod sticking out of the ceiling, slowly making its way towards her; she could see the electricity flowing through it. "Uh oh."  
  
---  
  
"This place is so cool!" Mutsumi cheered as everyone left the weapons room.  
  
"You're not kidding," Kitsune added.  
  
"I have never seen such a wide variety of weapons in one place before," Motoko said. "Nor in such wonderful quality."  
  
"Glad you liked 'em," Jimmy said.  
  
"I wonder," Sean said. "Is Suu still in the bathroom?"  
  
As if to answer Sean's question, the lights flickered for a moment. "Excuse me for a bit," Jimmy said, not missing a beat as he left for the kitchen.  
  
"What was that all about?" Naru asked.  
  
"Couldn't tell you," Sean said as everyone entered the living room. About a minute later, Jimmy arrived, a motionless Suu in his arms. "Good Lord, what the heck happened to her?!"  
  
"She stuck her nose where it didn't belong," Jimmy said. "And she paid the price for it."  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"She'll be fine. The electric shock wasn't lethal or anything." Jimmy handed Suu to Sean. "Though you should probably get her home so she can get some rest."  
  
"Good idea," Sean said. "I guess it's about time we left anyway."  
  
"Um, Sean?" Motoko asked as everyone began to say their goodbyes. "If you don't mind, I think I will stay here a while longer."  
  
"Of course," Sean said. "Why would I mind?"  
  
Motoko grinned a bit, mentally kicking herself for the way she worded what she just said. "Just so you know," she said with more confidence to back it up. "I may end up spending the night here."  
  
"No problem. See you two later, then." With that, most of the group left, leaving Motoko and Jimmy alone.  
  
"Is it just me or have you lost some of that spark you had when we first met?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"I guess I still haven't fully recovered from what happened last week. I'm not exactly used to feeling worthless."  
  
"You'll never be worthless to me, Motoko," Jimmy said, giving her a quick kiss. "C'mon, let's go play with my toys some more." He then led her by the hand back to the second floor of the garage.  
  
--- 4:12 PM  
  
"Oh, what happened?" Suu asked as she regained awareness of her surroundings. The last thing she remembered before losing consciousness was the sharp pain of electricity flowing through her. Quickly, she sat up, expecting to be in that same hallway, but instead found herself in her own room back at Hinata-Sou. "Wait, how did I get back here?"  
  
"You were carried, how else?" Suu looked towards the source of the voice to find Kitsune standing in the doorway. "Serves you right for snooping around somebody else's house like that. You feelin' okay?"  
  
"Yeah," Suu said, holding her head. "Though I won't be doing anything stupid like that again for a while."  
  
"See that you don't."  
  
As soon as Kitsune left, a smirk appeared on Suu's face. "Oh, you won't have to worry about that, I can assure you."  
  
---  
  
Motoko and Jimmy would train in the weapons room for the first couple hours of their alone time. Motoko took advantage of this opportunity to begin familiarizing herself with weapons other than her usual katana, though Jimmy could see that she wasn't having much of an easy time in doing so.  
  
When their session came to a close, being the gentleman that he was, Jimmy let Motoko get cleaned up first. As the water from the showerhead flowed over her, Motoko couldn't help but let it remind her of the hotel room she had back in Myrtle Beach. For her, life over the last couple months had felt like a dream, though for a while, it was nothing short of a nightmare. It was as though she was being tested by some higher power; and she couldn't be sure if she had passed or not. She had given up on life far too quickly after Tsuruko first paid them a visit, and she knew it. If only she could have been stronger during that time; maybe she could have gone with Sean to try and beat her sister together instead of him going by himself.  
  
Motoko quickly shook such depressing thoughts from her mind and turned to more pleasant things. She imagined Jimmy coming in and joining her in the shower. She could almost feel his hands running up her sides. Years ago, she would have severely chastised herself for having such perverse thoughts, not to mention try to kill whoever it was that inspired them in the first place. Of course, back then, she never thought she'd ever have a boyfriend to be the subject of those thoughts, either. Despite all this, she knew she had to tread lightly around these fantasies, as she knew from experience what can happen if her imagination gets out of control, making her libido do the same. She wasn't exactly eager to experience the torment of sexual frustration again.  
  
When she stepped out of the shower, Motoko felt refreshed, both in body and mind. As she dried herself off, an idea popped in her head…  
  
---  
  
Jimmy sat on the couch in the living room, watching some television, patiently awaiting his turn in the shower. Even though he looked calm and collected on the outside, the fact that there was a beautiful, naked woman in his house was certainly not lost on him. He just didn't want to think about it too much, for obvious reasons.  
  
"You can use the shower now, Jimmy," Motoko's voice said from off in the distance.  
  
"Alright," Jimmy called back, getting up and heading for the bathroom, where the voice originated. When he got there, he was greeted by a very… unexpected sight.  
  
"You know what I just realized?" Motoko asked as she leaned up against the bathroom door, naked as the day she was born. "I didn't bring any clothes with me except for that sweaty gi I was wearing when I showed up."  
  
To say that Jimmy was surprised would have been an understatement as he just stared blankly at Motoko's gorgeous frame for a few moments before the guy within him kicked in. "Um, is that a problem?"  
  
"Well," Motoko answered as she began walking towards him. "I wouldn't want to distract you or anything. Believe me, I've experienced that first hand." She grabbed Jimmy by the shirt, pulled him down and gave him a quick kiss. She would have gone up on her tip-toes to do it, but Jimmy was a foot taller than her and she wouldn't have been able to reach. "I'm going to go call Sean and get him to send me some clothes, alright?"  
  
Not waiting for him to respond, Motoko continued down the hallway, leaving Jimmy alone with his erection, trying to rationalize what had just occurred; for as long as he's known her, Motoko has never been quite so open. Despite all this, he wasn't about to complain about what he had just seen. "Wait just a sec," he thought, trying to piece together what was actually said. "She experienced what first hand?" Certain thoughts accompanied him into the bathroom which, along with the bedroom, should be the only place such thoughts should arise.  
  
After Jimmy finished with his shower and Motoko got dressed, they settled down for some meditation, sitting a foot or two apart, facing each other. As time went on, their auras started to intertwine and they found themselves in each other's thoughts in some sort of mind link. To the casual observer, it would seem like they would be doing nothing over the next few hours, but the participants were, for all intents and purposes, in a world all to themselves, performing various activities--most of which having nothing to do with martial arts of any sort.  
  
By the time they came out of their respective trances, they both felt drained; both physically and spiritually. Seeing the evening was already upon them, they decided to forgo dinner and just call it a day. Motoko took a couple extra sets of clothing with her to the guest room while Jimmy stayed in the living room, watching television. It didn't take long for either of them to drift off to sleep, but the night was still far from over…  
  
--- 10:51 PM  
  
A lone figure stalks it way through the wooded area near Hinata-Sou. If one were to get a close look, they would have been able to recognize it as a certain girl on a quest. "Well," Suu thought. "I did say I wasn't going to do something stupid like what I tried to do this afternoon." Sure, the objective may not have changed, but now, Suu felt she was ready for anything and everything that might be lined up against her, her confidence represented by the duffle bag slung over her shoulder.  
  
When she reached Jimmy's house, she reached into her bag and retrieved a lock pick and with the skill of a master thief, she gained entry. She crept through the hallway as quietly as she could; she didn't know Jimmy's sleep habits and for all she knew, he might still be awake.  
  
Suu reached the living room, but ducked back in an instant. Poking her head in, she saw Jimmy sitting in a recliner, illuminated by the glow of the television screen. "I guess I never expected it to be that easy," she thought. Indeed, this little development would make things much more difficult for Suu to accomplish her goal.  
  
The progress was slow and painstaking, but Suu finally made it to the kitchen without being seen--or at least that's what she hoped. She turned the knob causing the secret panel to slide away, and was midway through the portal when her ears picked up something coming from the living room--something that she really wished she hadn't.  
  
A few moments went by and Jimmy entered the kitchen, mumbling about something, but Suu didn't catch what it was, nor did she care at the moment. "I'm so screwed," Suu thought, still half in the room, half out. Much to her amazement, Jimmy just went to the fridge, drank a soda and went back to the living room, muttering all the while. "Um…" Suu thought, positively dumbstruck. "Has he been asleep this whole time?" Deciding not to dwell on the subject any further, she quickly went down the path while her window of opportunity was still open.  
  
"Alright," Suu said when she reached the door that now blocks her way. "Time to crack this safe." She pressed the button next to the door and the voice chimed in, asking for the code, but this time around, she was ready. Earlier in the day, she used her technical expertise to hack into Jimmy's computer system. Through this, she found out that the password is randomly generated each day, which is then e-mailed to him.  
  
Reaching into her bag, Suu pulled out a small slip of paper that contained that day's passcode, which she quickly entered into the keyboard. When she pressed enter, the voice returned. "Password accepted."  
  
"Yes," Suu said, pumping her fist. However, her celebration was cut short when the computer spoke up yet again.  
  
"Please provide thumb print."  
  
Suu bit her lip as a fingerprint recognition pad appeared next to where the keyboard had been just moments before. "Darn it, I should have known it wouldn't be that easy." She knew there was only one way to go from there. She went back up to the kitchen and poked her head into the living room. After his short trip, Jimmy had sat back down in the recliner, apparently still asleep. "I hoped it wouldn't have come to this," Suu thought as she went into her bag again and retrieved what appeared to be a blowgun.  
  
"Sweet dreams," Suu thought as she put the blowgun to her lips, disregarding the redundancy of it all. Sure, he may be asleep now, but she wanted to be sure he stayed that way. She blew and a dart flew out, hitting Jimmy on the neck, responded to this with a twitch and a slight moan, but nothing more.  
  
Allowing herself a sigh of relief, Suu stepped forward and grabbed Jimmy by the arm and pulled him out of the chair. From there, she hooked her arms underneath his and dragged him back to the kitchen and down the steps. "This guy weighs a ton," she grunted along the way. Getting him to the door would turn out to be the easy part, as Suu would quickly find out.  
  
Much to Suu's frustration, Jimmy's arm couldn't reach the pad while his body was flat on the ground. Therefore, she resigned herself to having to lift it up a ways to do it. It took a couple tries, but was finally able to get Jimmy's thumb onto the pad.  
  
"Thumb print approved."  
  
When Suu heard those sweet words come from that unseen source, she couldn't have felt happier; relieved that this whole ordeal was finally over…  
  
"Please provide retinal scan."  
  
…then again, maybe it wasn't. Suu looked upwards to find that a small panel had slid away, revealing where the scan will take place. "You gotta be kidding me," she said, seeing that it was a good foot and a half above her head, and that she had to get Jimmy's head up to that level, somehow. "Okay, how am I going to get through this? C'mon, Suu, think!"  
  
Frantically, she started searching through her bag, trying to find something, anything that might help. Of course, a crane was too much to hope for, but a option did present itself; one that might just be crazy enough to work. "I knew it was a good idea to make these." Strapping what was, in essence, modified plungers to her feet, she grabbed one of Jimmy's arms and proceeded to walk up the wall. The progress was slow, due to Jimmy's weight, but after a few minutes, she found herself on the ceiling, doing her best to get him--and keep him--upright.  
  
Forcing one of his eyelids open, Suu stuck Jimmy's face in front of the retinal scan. For her, the next few moments felt more like hours until that glorious message came: "Retinal scan complete."  
  
After she heard the click of the lock, Suu let go of Jimmy, then fell from the ceiling, landing on top of him. "So much for your defenses," she said. "No matter how tough the obstacle, I will always win in the end." She got up off Jimmy's still limp body and pushed the door open. "Time to see what all this is supposed to protect." As she entered the room, she was shocked to find that it was completely empty. "This can't be," Suu said, starting to tear up. "All that hard work, all those battles; they were for nothing?!" The sound of laughter forced her to turn around to a startling sight.  
  
"So much for your victory celebration, huh?" Jimmy said, standing up.  
  
"J-J-Jimmy?!" Suu stammered, looking as though she had seen a ghost. "But I thought you were asleep!"  
  
"I was," Jimmy said. "Until you fired this thing at me." He pulled the dart out of his neck. "You really should stop being so sneaky."  
  
"But if there's nothing in here," Suu said. "Why all the security measures?!"  
  
"It's just a heavy-duty storage room; nothing more."  
  
"Then why didn't you let me in here before?"  
  
"I just wanted to see what you were really capable of. I was really impressed."  
  
"I suppose this officially ends our war, huh?"  
  
"Seems that way. You should probably head home before Motoko catches you."  
  
Suu nodded and started to leave, not bothering to ask why Motoko stayed in the first place. When she got to the stairs, she stopped. "You know, I'm interested in working on your car with you. Maybe we could do that tomorrow?"  
  
"It's a date then," Jimmy said. After he was sure that Suu was gone, be allowed himself a laugh. "She is so naïve. To think, she came so close, but gave up so easily." He walked to the far corner of the room and lifted up one of the tiles, revealing a button. Upon pressing it, a panel opened up on the far end of the room. This new room was filled with all sorts of high-tech electronic equipment that would have made Suu drool--that is, if she had been allowed to find it. Indeed, the war has come to an end, but each person has a different idea as to who won.  
  
End of Chapter LIII  
  
I'll try to get the next one up quicker. See ya next time! Please R&R! 


	56. INT: The Way of the Fox

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me and Jimmy is a friend and assistant in the design process.  
  
Well, the time has come for another of my imfamous...  
  
Intermission: The Way of the Fox  
  
Tuesday, 10/14 9:11 AM  
  
Sean sighed as he sat on the couch in the living room. "Another day--"  
  
"--Another seven hours or so of boredom that we have to put up with," Kitsune finished. She sat next to Sean on the couch.  
  
"It could be worse," Sean said.  
  
"It could always be worse," Kitsune shot back. "What we need is something to make it better." This always seemed to be the case when the others were at school, the only time that monotony is reasonably possible.  
  
"You never know," Sean said. "Something might actually happen today." All of a sudden, they heard a knock at the door.  
  
"You know," Kitsune said. "That gets really creepy after a while."  
  
"Don't I know it," Sean muttered. "Come on in!" A few moments later and the two saw Jimmy appear before them. "Hey man, what's up?"  
  
"Bored as hell," Jimmy said, sitting down in a chair. "You?"  
  
"Same," Sean said.  
  
"Which should never happen around here," Kitsune added. "Ever."  
  
"You still have those videos, don't you?" Jimmy asked. "We could watch some of them to pass the time until the others get back."  
  
"Its better than nothing," Sean said. He turned to Kitsune. "You want to go pick 'em out?"  
  
"Sure, why not?" A grin appeared on Kitsune's face. "And I think I know just the ones to--"  
  
"NO SEX TAPES!!"  
  
Kitsune started to pout. "Aw, why not?"  
  
"Yeah, Sean," Jimmy said, grinning. "Why not?"  
  
"Because I don't feel like watching myself have sex, that's why!"  
  
"Alright, alright," Kitsune said. "I'll see what I can find."  
  
"It might take her a while," Sean said after Kitsune left. "She has quite a bit to look through."  
  
"I'm sure it'll be good, whatever she picks out," Jimmy said.  
  
"Good for who?"  
  
A few minutes later, Kitsune came back, a couple disks in hand. "Since you won't allow the sex tapes," she said. "I decided I'd go for the next best thing."  
  
"And that would be…?" Sean said, a suspicious look on his face.  
  
"None other than Kitsune Konno at her best!" Kitsune said enthusiastically.  
  
"That doesn't narrow it down all that much."  
  
"Pipe down. You'll see what I mean soon enough." Kitsune inserted one of the disks into the DVD player, pressed play and sat back down next to Sean. "Let the show begin!"  
  
"Oh goody," Sean muttered. It was obvious he wasn't going to be looking forward to what he was about to see.  
  
--- (Monday, 6/18/2007 2:05 AM)  
  
The scene opens up to find a certain fox lady sprawled out on the couch, absolutely plastered. "There's nothing quite like an all-night sake binge to take one's cares away," Kitsune thought. "If only I didn't get those damned hangovers afterward. Oh well, it come with the territory." Hearing something, she poked her head over the back of the couch to see an interesting sight. "What's the landlord doing up?" She looked on silently as Sean walked by, oblivious of her presence. "Hmm, what could he be up to?" She tried to think of something, but it hurt her brain too much for her to process anything, so she just decided to follow him and see for herself.  
  
As quietly as her drunken movements would allow, she tailed Sean until she saw him enter the changing room, which only piqued Kitsune's curiosity further. "Didn't Naru and Motoko forbid him from ever going out in the hot spring?" A grin started to form on her face. "Maybe I'll join him." Suddenly, she remembered a bit of the conversation she had with Sean less than six hours before. "If he never had a girlfriend, that could mean he's never gotten laid before, either. If I play my cards right, I might be able to use this to my advantage."  
  
---  
  
"Oh man," Sean thought as he stepped into the water. "I certainly hope things go better today than yesterday." He rubbed his face a bit. "I can still feel that punch that girl threw at me. I guess I can only pray that she isn't like that all the time."  
  
"Well well, what do we have here?" Sean turned around to find Kitsune standing in the doorway. "And what are you doing up so late?"  
  
"Should I be asking you the same thing?" Sean shot back.  
  
"You know Naru and Motoko don't want you out here, right?"  
  
"Like I said last night, I plan to continue bathing out here, and those two can't stop me if they're asleep the whole time."  
  
"Oh, right," Kitsune said, remembering more of that talk they had. "Time to see what I can get out of him," she thought as Sean turned back around. "Hey, you said you never had a girlfriend, right?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Well, have you even been intimate with a woman before?"  
  
"What do you think?"  
  
"Perfect," Kitsune thought.  
  
After a few moments, Sean suddenly felt Kitsune's chest against his back. "What are you doing?"  
  
"I can only imagine what being celibate has done to you," Kitsune said. "You must be horny all day long."  
  
"Not if I don't think about it."  
  
"Are you thinking about it now?"  
  
"No, I'm wondering just how much you've had to drink tonight."  
  
"Aw, that hurts," Kitsune said, pouting a bit. "Don't you want me?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because the plan is to save my first time for the woman I love, not some drunk skank who makes it convenient."  
  
"Skank?!" Kitsune thought angrily. "Okay, this just got personal. I'll show him what happens when someone crosses me!" "Fine, if that's how it's gonna be, I'll go where I'm better appreciated."  
  
"Yeah, I'm sure the living room couch misses you dearly," Sean said. Kitsune stormed off, leaving him alone in the hot spring. "What's her deal?" he thought out loud. "I'm only here for twelve hours and I've already got two of them wanting me dead and another trying to get into my pants. That blue-haired girl seems to be the only normal one among them--what was her name again? Shinobu? Oh well, I didn't come out here to think, anyway." He stretched his arms out and let the water relax him, but it would only last a few minutes before he heard the sound of a door being slammed open.  
  
"See? I told you he was out here!"  
  
Sean quickly turned around to see that Kitsune returned; and that she didn't come alone. "Oh no," he thought when he recognized the two violent residents standing before him.  
  
"YOU!!" Motoko yelled.  
  
"What?" Sean asked, "Is it about me being out here?"  
  
"You no good pervert!" Naru said. "Peeking at me wasn't enough of thrill, so you had to try and rape Kitsune, is that it?!"  
  
Sean looked shocked. "I did WHAT now?!"  
  
"It's true!" Kitsune cried. "He pulled me out here and forced himself on me. I was barely able to get away!"  
  
"This adulterous behavior shall not be tolerated!" Motoko said, unsheathing her sword. "AIR SPLITTING SWORD!!"  
  
Sean had that "dear in headlights" look about him as Motoko's attack sped towards him, hitting him square in the chest. The next thing he knew, his back hit the wall on the far end of the hot spring.  
  
"Are you going to be alright, Kitsune?" Naru asked.  
  
"I think I'll be fine," Kitsune said, wiping away tears. "But I'm probably gonna have nightmares about what he tried to do to me."  
  
"C'mon," Naru said. "You can come sleep in my room tonight. I'll protect you if he tries anything again."  
  
"Thank you." Naru and Kitsune headed inside, but Motoko stayed a little while longer.  
  
"If you try anything perverted again," she said. "You will not get off so easily."  
  
Within moments, Sean was alone again, clutching his chest as he struggled to stand up. "Okay, what just happened?"  
  
---  
  
"Those two were so hell bent against you being here, they'd believe anything I told them," Kitsune said. "It's fun messing with people's heads."  
  
"Fun for you, maybe," Sean muttered. "Painful for me."  
  
"You should have taken her up on that offer she made," Jimmy said.  
  
"Knowing her, she'd probably blackmail me or something afterwards," Sean said.  
  
"That was the idea," Kitsune said. "But you had to be all difficult about it."  
  
Sean rolled his eyes. "Gee, I can't imagine why."  
  
--- (8:31 AM)  
  
Shinobu walked towards Sean's door. Even since she first met the new landlord the day before, she found herself blushing any time she was around him. She wasn't exactly sure why this was happening, but she felt too embarrassed to ask anyone about it. When she opened the door, she found Sean sitting at the table, his back turned. "Uh, Sean?" she asked, barely able to get the words out for some reason. When Sean didn't react, she hesitantly stepped closer to him. "Sean?" she asked again, this time a bit louder. This time, she got a reaction, as Sean turned around to face her.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't hear you come in," Sean said, taking out the earpieces of his headphones, which Shinobu weren't able to see when she first walked in.  
  
"I just came to tell you that breakfast is ready."  
  
"Thanks. If it's as good as dinner was last night, I'll be looking forward to it."  
  
Shinobu started blushing uncontrollably. "T-Thank you, sir!" She noticed the papers strewn about the table. "If I may ask, what are you doing?"  
  
"Just looking over the financial records to see where we stand." Sean shook his head. "Looks like I've got my work cut out for me."  
  
Shinobu looked worried. "Hinata-Sou's not going to close down, is it?"  
  
"Not if I can help it." Sean stood up and motioned towards the door. "C'mon, the others are probably waiting for us." Along the way, he couldn't help but notice Shinobu making brief glances at him. "Out of all of them so far, she's the only one who's been nice to me," he thought. "I guess one's better than none."  
  
As they neared the kitchen, Shinobu watched Sean remove his glasses and proceed to clean them on his shirt. She had heard about the hot spring incident the day before, and seeing the somewhat pained look in his eyes made her think he was recalling that event as well. "He didn't get much of a warm welcome yesterday," she thought. "I hope Naru and Motoko don't hurt him too badly while he's here." Suddenly, her eyes went wide. "Oh no! I forgot to warn him about--"  
  
Too late. As soon as Sean set foot in the dining room, he was knocked on his ass, courtesy of Suu kicking him right between the eyes. "Sean, are you alright?!" Shinobu asked, scared that the blonde might have seriously injured him.  
  
"I'll live," Sean muttered, holding his head in one hand, his glasses in the other, thankful that he wasn't wearing them at the time.  
  
"I'm so sorry," Shinobu said, tears starting to form. "I should have told you about Suu sooner."  
  
"I guess I was bound to find out sooner or later," Sean said, sitting up. "Though I'd like to know what she has against me."  
  
"It's just something she does," Kitsune said offhandedly. She, along with Naru and Motoko were already seated at the table and none of them looked all that happy to see Sean again.  
  
"Lovely," Sean thought. "As if I didn't have enough to worry about." He walked over to the table, sitting down between Naru and Suu. "So, what's for breakfast?"  
  
"Nothing for you," Naru said flatly. "Not until you apologize for what you did this morning."  
  
"Geez, I know you said I can't use the hot spring, but considering it was two in the morning and you were asleep at the time, I didn't think you'd mind."  
  
Naru grabbed him by the shirt. "That's not what I'm talking about, jackass!"  
  
"What could he have done?" Shinobu couldn't help but think.  
  
"I was hoping we could just forget this while thing," Sean said with a sigh. "But alright. I apologize for not letting Kitsune seduce me. If I had, she might not have needed to wake up her servants and send them after me."  
  
Naru responded with a punch to the head, sending Sean crashing into the wall. "You expect us to believe a lie like that?"  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune said. "You were the one molesting me, remember?"  
  
"He did WHAT?!" Shinobu cried, refusing to believe what she just heard.  
  
Sean might have said something, but he had landed upside down, his face pressed against the floor. Of course, even if he could, there isn't much he could say to improve his current situation. What can be done if the truth doesn't work?  
  
"He would never do something like that!" Shinobu continued.  
  
"How do you know?" Naru asked. "You hardly know him!"  
  
"I know that, but he just seems like a nice guy, that's all."  
  
"Men cannot be trusted," Motoko. "Though they may seem friendly at first, they only seek to satisfy their perverted desires."  
  
"They don't care that I'm still here, do they?" Sean thought. "Well, I can take care of that."  
  
Shinobu caught a glimpse of Sean walking out of the room. "Sean, where are you going?"  
  
"Does it matter?" Sean replied without turning around.  
  
"But aren't you going to stay for breakfast?"  
  
"Can't you tell? The majority would rather see me starve, and far be it for me to provoke them further by partaking in the ghastly act of eating." He would leave before more could be said. After a few moments, Shinobu ran into the kitchen, crying the entire way.  
  
Kitsune looked around at the chaos that she had made, thinking that maybe, just maybe, she had gone too far. "Maybe I should fess up," she thought. She grinned for the umpteenth time this morning. "Nah. I'm gonna ride this as long as I can. Serves him right for resisting my feminine wiles."  
  
Aside from Shinobu's sudden gloomy demeanor and Naru and Motoko still smelling blood, breakfast seemed to go off without a hitch, but midway through, Motoko felt a twitch in the back of her mind. "Where is that energy coming from?" she thought. Focusing on the signal, she traced it in the general direction of the landlord's room.  
  
"Where are you going, Motoko?" Naru asked.  
  
"Sean's up to something, I just know it." Motoko ran upstairs, Naru and Kitsune following close behind. As they neared Sean's room, they could hear music coming from inside. Within moments of reaching the door, the energy Motoko was tracking abruptly ended. Upon opening said door, the group found Sean there, singing along to "Faint" by Linkin Park. Considering the very limited English known by the three, they didn't know exactly what the lyrics were, but they could definitely tell that it wasn't exactly upbeat. "What's going on in here?!" Motoko half asked, half demanded.  
  
Sean instantly stopped singing. "Oh, I'm sorry, was I that loud?" He asked in all honesty. He'd be the first to admit that his voice had a tendency to carry at times.  
  
"Don't play dumb," Motoko said. "What was that energy coming from in here?"  
  
"Are you kidding?" Sean said. "The only one I know that has any energy abilities is you. I'd like to know how you did that, by the way." Beneath the calm exterior, Sean's mind was racing. "Oh shit, she could sense that?!" he thought "Looks like I need to be more careful about when I use my healing magic. This just keeps getting more and more complicated. Good thing I didn't have enough time to remove the bruises, or else I'd really be in trouble."  
  
"Well," Naru said. "Whatever the case, it's time you began your duties as manager."  
  
"Can it wait a while?" Sean asked. "I've had a rough morning, what with the beatings and all. Just give me a list and I'll get on it when I can."  
  
"NO!" Naru yelled, getting right in Sean's face. "Get going or else I'll beat you again! And I won't go easy on you this time!"  
  
"Oh, that's brilliant," Sean shot back. "Order me to work, then knock me out. Tell me, did you come up with that all by yourself or did somebody help you?" Internally, he flinched. "Oh God, did I really just say that?" he thought.  
  
"Damn," Kitsune thought, shocked by Sean's comeback. "He's either really brave or really stupid. Though I must admit, that was pretty good."  
  
Naru was so infuriated by this, she could hardly think straight. There was a look in her eyes that screamed her want to tear Sean to ribbons, but she would show just enough restraint to keep him alive. Besides, he did have a point; it would be hard for him to do any chores if he was unconscious, much less dead. Grabbing him by the collar, she dragged him out of the room with Motoko following behind them.  
  
As soon as the two were out of sight, Kitsune entered Sean's room. "Alright," she said to herself. "Time to dig up some dirt on this guy." A quick search of the bookcase, dresser and closet turned up no incriminating evidence of any sort; not even a Playboy hidden anywhere. "I don't believe this," she said, frustration etched on her face. "This guy's got nothing on him!" She then looked at his laptop. "Unless…" She was just about to start looking through the files for anything pornographic when a notebook on the table caught her eye. Flipping through it, she quickly saw that it contained biographical information on the tenants, herself included. Midway through, the found a piece of paper tucked inside. "Well well, what do we have here?" Upon further inspection, she found it to be handwritten notes referring to each girl, presumably made by Sean. Curious, she went straight to what he wrote about her…  
  
"Mitsune 'Kitsune' Konno: Questionable intentions; Compulsive liar; Beware of sexual advances; Has Naru and Motoko at her beck and call."  
  
"As true as all this may be," Kitsune said after she finished. "I cannot tolerate him writing his opinions about us without us knowing it. Time for some more mischief."  
  
---  
  
It didn't take long for Naru and Motoko to get Sean started with his duties--mostly because he ended up being at swordpoint the whole time. "Oh man," Sean thought as he scrubbed the floor. "What did I do to deserve this? I mean, I know what they think I did, but still, they won't even listen to my side of the story. It's as if they're selectively deaf of something."  
  
He began to hear some whispering behind him, but he resisted the urge to look back, mostly from fear of personal injury, but it seemed other plans had been made.  
  
"You bastard!!" Hearing Naru's angry voice--which was becoming very familiar to him at this point--made Sean's body tense up, expecting the worst. "Sean, get up!"  
  
"But you told me to clean the floors," Sean blurted out. "Damn it!!" he thought. "Why can't I keep my mouth shut today?!"  
  
"I know what I said," Naru said, grabbing Sean by the collar, pulling him upright. "Kitsune just brought this to our attention." She shoved a certain piece of paper in Sean's face.  
  
"So what?" Sean asked. "I'm not allowed to have opinions now?"  
  
"Read what you wrote for Shinobu!"  
  
To be honest, he didn't know what the big deal was, so he wasn't all that worried; at least not at first. "Okay, I'll read it. 'Shinobu Maehara: Cute and innocent; The nicest one of the bunch.'" This he had no problems with, as he had actually written it, but the last part got him concerned. "'I cant wait to take that innocence away from her'?! Now hold on, I didn't--" He wouldn't have enough time to plead his case, as Naru had already punched him in the face, sending him through the wall at the end of the hallway.  
  
"I do not believe this," Motoko said. "First he tries to rape Kitsune, now he intends on doing the same to poor Shinobu. When will it all end?"  
  
"Not any time soon if I can help it," Kitsune thought, more plans already being made in her devious mind.  
  
---  
  
"This is going to he hell, pure and simple," Sean muttered as he hung onto a high tree branch for dear life.  
  
---  
  
"I had a feeling that was you," Sean said.  
  
"Damn, you had it rough back then," Jimmy noted.  
  
"And it only got worse as time went on. Let me tell you, Linkin Park ended up being the soundtrack for my first two weeks here."  
  
"If we had known what those lyrics were," Kitsune said. "Maybe we could have stopped that whole insanity episode before it ever got started."  
  
"He went insane?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"Yep," Kitsune said. "And none of us saw his payback coming."  
  
"And what was it?"  
  
"I made everyone's clothes vanish overnight," Sean said, grinning.  
  
Jimmy smiled back approvingly. "Nice."  
  
"Well, at first it went pretty well, but I eventually went on a guilt trip about the whole thing and it almost ended in suicide."  
  
"Yeah, if Naru hadn't caught you at the last moment," Kitsune added, switching her gaze to Jimmy. "This idiot tried to end it all by stepping off the roof."  
  
"Well, you didn't exactly make surviving that easy, did you? I felt like I had no other option."  
  
"But if you had gone through with it, you would have missed out on some good lovin'."  
  
"Yeah, whether I wanted it or not."  
  
"When wouldn't you want it?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"That actually bring us to our next movie," Kitsune said, holding another video in her hand. "You up for it?"  
  
"Do I have a choice?" Sean asked rhetorically.  
  
"You know me so well," Kitsune said with a grin as she went to put the new movie in the DVD player. "And you about to see how that came about."  
  
"I can only imagine…" Sean thought, trying to figure out what Kitsune had picked out before she pressed play.  
  
--- (Friday, 8/31/2007 9:02 AM)  
  
Slowly, Kitsune's door opened and she stuck her head out, looking to see if anyone was around. Finding the hallway completely devoid of life, she stepped out and stalked towards the room next door; the one Sean and Keitaro were sharing at the time. Cracking the door open, she saw Sean inside, working at his computer, his back to her. Also, he was alone; Keitaro was nowhere to be seen. "Perfect," she thought. She quickly stepped inside and shut the door. If anyone else were to see her, her plan would have been shot to pieces for sure.  
  
Sean continued his number-crunching unhindered until he heard Kitsune's voice call out to him. "Hello, Sean."  
  
"Hey, Kitsune." Sean looked back, then quickly shut his eyes, turning back towards his laptop. "Not this again," he thought. Oh, did I forget to mention that Kitsune didn't have a stitch of clothing on her when she came in?  
  
"You know why I'm here," Kitsune said, making her way to where Sean sat. "It's high time you let me take care of you. You shouldn't be pushing back your hormones like you are; it's not healthy."  
  
"Since when are you concerned about my health?"  
  
"Since I found out you were going under voluntary sexual frustration, that's when." By now, Kitsune had wrapped her arms around Sean from behind, pressing her ample chest against his back.  
  
"You're my only sexual frustration, Kitsune," Sean said.  
  
"That's because you don't let me do anything." Kitsune started whispering into Sean's ear. "Now, be a good boy, turn off that computer and let me work my own magic on you."  
  
"I'm sure you'll be working something," Sean muttered. He tried his best to ignore the minx and continue working, but Kitsune would not be overlooked so easily. Within moments, she closed the laptop with her foot. "Kitsune," Sean said with a sigh. "We've been over this I don't know how many--" He turned around and got a face full of Kitsune's crotch. "Kitsune!!" He tried to back up, but the table quickly blocked his way. "Will you cut that out already?!"  
  
"Sean, listen to me," Kitsune said, kneeling in front of him, trapping his legs between her own, preventing any sort of escape at this point. There was a serious expression on her face. "I know what it's like to have your needs left unfulfilled, and it was a personal hell for me. I don't want you to go through the same thing as I did."  
  
"Well, I appreciate the thought, but I don't want you forcing it on me."  
  
"I don't care. I'm going to get you off and you're going to enjoy it!"  
  
The look of determination on Kitsune's face let Sean know that she would not be denied as she began giving him a lap dance; just the precursor to what might happen to him later on. He knew he had to find a way out of this quickly or else--and then it came to him. He stopped Kitsune in the middle of her seduction, grabbing her by the chin and forced her to look him in the eye.  
  
It was then that Kitsune noticed that Sean had removed his glasses and was giving her that look of pure evil that she always found unnerving. After seeing it the first couple times, she couldn't help but wonder if he had practiced that look. "No matter what you do," Sean said. "I will not let you have your way with me." Sean made a smile to go along with the eyes. "So long." Before she could do anything about it, Sean disappeared in a flash of light.  
  
"Damn it," Kitsune muttered after her eyes readjusted. "I thought I had him that time. Well, if he thinks he going to get away that easily, he's sadly mistaken." She then left the room with complete disregard of anyone that might see her.  
  
---  
  
"You are such a wuss," Jimmy said.  
  
"Nobody asked you," Sean said.  
  
"That's Sean for you," Kitsune said. "When he sets his sights on something, there isn't much you can do to stop him."  
  
"The same can be said for you," Sean muttered.  
  
"You must have gotten it from me, then," Kitsune said with a grin.  
  
"Okay, in the first movie, I can understand why you'd refuse her," Jimmy said. "But why in that one? It didn't look like she was trying to find a way to blackmail you that time."  
  
"That's because I wasn't," Kitsune said. "For a change, I had Sean's best interest in mind."  
  
"As if you even knew what my best interest was," Sean said. "Sure, there are times when I want sex as much as anyone else, but I don't want it shoved down my throat like you've tried to do on so many occasions."  
  
"I know something I'd want shoved down my throat," Kitsune said.  
  
"Oh, shut up!"  
  
"Hmm, that gives me an idea for another movie we could--"  
  
"Oh no!" Sean said. "You're not getting that one! You're going to stay right here!"  
  
"Aw, you're no fun," Kitsune said, starting to pout.  
  
As they continued to watch the movie, Jimmy couldn't help but wonder what they were referring to, exactly.  
  
---  
  
Suu, Naru, Keitaro and Shinobu were in the living room watching television when Sean suddenly appeared among them. "What brings you here all of a sudden?" Naru asked.  
  
"Yeah, is something wrong?" Shinobu asked, noticing the look of tension on his face.  
  
"It's Kitsune," Sean said as he put his glasses back on and sat down next to Shinobu. "She's feeling frisky again."  
  
"Why don't you just let her do what she wants to and get it over with?" Naru asked. "The more you resist, the harder she tries."  
  
"Now don't you start. That woman can be nothing short of aggravating at times, and I have to somehow get it through that thick skull of hers that she can't get what she wants by force."  
  
"Is aggravating good to eat?" Suu asked.  
  
"Not exactly, Suu, but think of it this way: Kitsune's actions toward me is kind of like Naru's cooking to your taste buds."  
  
Suu gasped. "It's that bad?!"  
  
"It's getting there," Sean said with a sigh. "No offense, Naru."  
  
"None taken," Naru said. She knew well enough that most of what she makes isn't fit for human consumption.  
  
Only a minute would go by before Sean heard a voice that made him flinch. "AHA!" Kitsune said, now wearing a bathrobe. "I thought I would find you here."  
  
"At least she came down here with clothes on this time," Sean thought, though he assumed that there wasn't much underneath.  
  
"C'mon, Kitsune, give it a rest," Naru said.  
  
"Not until I complete my objective! Now, Sean, sit still for a minute and let mommy take care of you."  
  
Sean stood up from the couch. "First, you look nothing like my mother, and second, I wouldn't let you touch me there if I had a gun to my head!"  
  
"What choice do you have?"  
  
"Enough to get away from you again," Sean said with a smirk.  
  
"We'll just see about that."  
  
"Yes, we will." Sean suddenly broke out in a run, with Kitsune a close second. Through this whole scene, nobody paid a bit of attention to Keitaro nursing his nosebleed.  
  
"You can't run forever!" Kitsune said.  
  
"I can try," Sean shot back.  
  
With a combination of Kitsune's cunning and Sean's lack of a current strategy, she forced him upstairs and eventually onto the roof, where Motoko was practicing with her sword. "Hey, Motoko," Sean said.  
  
"Hello, Sean," Motoko said. Seeing Sean running up like he was only meant one thing. "Kitsune after you again?"  
  
"How'd you know?"  
  
Kitsune snickered as she made her way onto the roof. "You've got nowhere else to run."  
  
"Not necessarily," Sean said, catching his breath a bit. "I can still go back the way I came."  
  
"Just give in. I won't let you get past me."  
  
A sports announcer started broadcasting in Sean's mind…  
  
---  
  
"It's 4th and Goal at the twelve yard line, ten seconds left in the game, Raiders down 14-9. Denver's defensive line has had their number all game long. Oakland lines up three wide, empty backfield. Roberts takes the snap, dropping back to pass. None of his receivers get open and the pocket starts to collapse, forcing Roberts to scramble to the near side. Still seeing nobody open, he turns upfield. He makes a move to the inside, making the linebacker miss a tackle by inches! He makes a dive for the end zone! Touchdown, Raiders!!"  
  
---  
  
Sean runs down the stairs, hoping to put some distance between him and Kitsune while he can. As he passes Suu's door, he is grabbed by the arm and pulled inside moments before Kitsune arrives in the hallway. "I don't believe this," she said, grunting in frustration. "He got away again!"  
  
"Thanks a bunch, Suu," Sean said after he got his bearings back. "I owe you one."  
  
"I know how you can repay me," Suu said, grinning.  
  
"Uh, how's that?" Sean asked, now wondering if he had just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.  
  
"You can help me test some of my latest works."  
  
"I had a feeling she would say something like that," Sean muttered, obviously not looking forward to what was about to happen…  
  
---  
  
Sean, Kitsune and Jimmy all cringed as Suu committed various crimes against humanity--or at least made attempts to do so. "Oh my God," Kitsune said. "I guess I should have picked a different one, huh?"  
  
"Maybe," Sean said. "Now it's my turn to pick a movie."  
  
"What do you have in mind?" Jimmy asked.  
  
With a wave of his hand, a disc case appeared in his hand. "What do you think, Kitsune?"  
  
As Kitsune read the label, her eyes opened wide. "NO!! Not that one!"  
  
"Why not?" Sean asked in that sinister calmness. "We got to see you at your best. I think it's only fair that Jimmy sees what I'm capable of. Especially when a certain someone goes a step too far." He turned to Jimmy. "I think you're going to enjoy this."  
  
"Me too," Jimmy said, also grinning. Despite, or perhaps because of Kitsune's objections, Sean put in the disc for October 8th, 2007…  
  
End of Intermission  
  
Well, that brings an end to another stage in the epic that has become my fanfic. Come back next time when some more of my evil ideas will be unleashed unto the world. See you then! Please R&R! 


	57. Ch54: Entrapment

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but the OC's are mine.  
  
There's only one word that can describe this chapter. Evil. Evil. Eeeeevil.  
  
Chapter LIV: Entrapment  
  
Monday, 12/1 5:45 AM  
  
Motoko's internal clock woke her up bright and early. In an instant, she remembered that today was her birthday. This thought brought back memories of her last birthday, when Sean gave her her own private arena to train in. "I guess it is possible," she thought with a chuckle as she gazed at the PlayStation in the corner of the room and the significance it held within. "You can give someone a world of their very own."  
  
As she got dressed, her thoughts turned to what she could expect this year, most especially, what she might get from Jimmy. "So much has happened in my life over the past year and then some," she said with a happy sigh. "And I have Sean to thank for all of it. If it wasn't for him, I don't know what I'd be doing right now." She thought back to some of the more recent events. "I'd probably be back in Kyoto carrying on the family business as Tsuruko wished."  
  
She pushed the unpleasant thought of having to leave her friends aside and made her way to the roof to begin her morning meditation, but was shocked to find that everyone--Jimmy included--was already there, waiting for her to arrive.  
  
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOTOKO!!" They all cheered.  
It took Motoko a moment or two to recover from the shock and regain rational thought. "I suppose I should have expected nothing less," she thought as she saw the table set up with a descent sized cake and utensils sitting next to it. "This group isn't all that known for its subtlety. I wouldn't have it any other way."  
  
As she joined in the festivities, she noticed right away that everyone wasn't exactly at 100. They had all made the personal sacrifice to get up before she did and set this all up for her. From her perspective, the one most affected out of the whole group was Naru. Sure, she had never known the Tokyo U student as much of a morning person, but there was this strange feeling about her that she just couldn't shake.  
  
Over the last couple months, there has been a noticeable decline in Naru's energy, as though she was suffering from exhaustion over long spans of time. At first, nobody thought much of it, thinking she was just studying too much for her own good like she did so often in the past, but as early as last week, Naru found it increasingly difficult to even get out of bed in the morning, much less get any schoolwork done. Worried for her health, he advised her to take it easy. Motoko wasn't sure if she had followed his advise or not, but it was obvious that her condition never got better.  
  
"Get ready, Motoko," Sean said, snapping her out of her thoughts. "Like last year, there is only one present and also like last year, it's from the main man in your life."  
  
"What did you get?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Don't ask me," Sean said. "Ask him."  
  
Motoko's followed to where Sean pointed to find Jimmy, his hands behind his back. She mentally kicked herself for not figuring that out sooner. "Close your eyes, Motoko," Jimmy said. "I want this to be a surprise." Motoko obeyed and within moments, someone grabbed her wrist and stretched her arm out a ways in frost of her. It was then that her hand came into contact with her gift--and her heart started to race as she instantly recognized what it was, even with her eyes closed. Despite this knowledge, she couldn't help but gasp when she opened her eyes and gazed at the sword she was holding. Unsheathing it, she was speechless as she examined the extraordinary quality of her new blade.  
  
"After what happened to your old sword," Jimmy said. "I had this one specifically made for you."  
  
Motoko sheathed her present and embraced Jimmy tightly. "This is better than I could have ever dreamed," she said, shedding tears of joy.  
  
"I'm glad you like it," Jimmy said. Motoko couldn't see it, but Jimmy gave a small salute to Sean, who quickly returned the favor.  
  
"If you don't mind," Keitaro said. "We're going to get another couple hours sleep. You may be used to getting up this early, but we're not."  
  
"Go ahead," Motoko said, releasing Jimmy. "I will see you all at breakfast."  
  
"I guess all we have to do is to--" Shinobu stopped mid-sentence when she saw that the cake was no longer there. "Uh, never mind."  
  
"Can somebody say sugar rush?" Sean asked, knowing full well who was responsible for the dessert's sudden vanishing act. Within minutes, Motoko was alone on the roof, eager to begin practicing with her new sword. In fact, she would get so caught up in her training, she would lose track of time, forcing someone to come get her for breakfast.  
  
--- 7:21 AM  
  
"Hey, Gorgeous!"  
  
Motoko turned around to see Jimmy standing at the steps, grinning at her. Out of everyone on the planet, he was probably the only person who could ever call her that and get away with it; even so, he was pushing it just a bit. "Yes?"  
  
"Think you can spare some time to get something to eat?"  
  
Motoko blinked a couple times. "Is it that time already?" She sheathed her sword and accompanied Jimmy back to the dining room. "I love this new sword you got me," she said. "Thank you so much."  
  
"My pleasure," Jimmy said. "And this day's not over yet."  
  
That caught Motoko's interest. "What else do you have planned?"  
  
"Nothing much; just an afternoon out on the town."  
  
"I look forward to it. If only I didn't have to go to school, then we could spend the whole day together."  
  
"Well, you don't HAVE to go if you don't want to."  
  
Motoko shook her head. "As appealing as that sounds, I have a reputation at school, and skipping school wouldn't bode well for me."  
  
Jimmy shrugged his shoulders. "It was worth a shot."  
  
Breakfast would go off without a hitch and afterwards, everyone went off on their regular morning routines, with one… minor exception.  
  
"Hey, Sean!" Suu said after Sean finished putting the dishes away.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Sarah and I have something cool to show you!"  
  
"And what might that be?"  
  
"It's a surprise. C'mon!" Suu grabbed Sean by the arm and lead him upstairs. Along the way, Sean couldn't decide if he should be worried or not. Suu's creations have been less… shall we say… lethal as of late, but old habits tend to die hard. It didn't take long for them to reach Suu's room, where Sarah was waiting for them, somewhat impatiently.  
  
"What took you so long?" Sarah asked.  
  
"Well, I'm here now," Sean said. "What have you got to show me?"  
  
"You'll see," Suu said, grinning from ear to ear. Apparently, this was something she was really, really proud of. "Have a seat."  
  
As Sean sat down, he couldn't help but think that he had been in this situation before, but at that particular moment, he wasn't able to put his finger on it. He was jarred from his thoughts when some sort of headgear was slammed onto his head. "OW! Watch what you're doing, Suu!"  
  
"That was me," Sarah said.  
  
"Whatever."  
  
"Are you ready?" Suu asked.  
  
"Ready for what?" Sean replied, trying to make heads or tails of the situation. "You still haven't said what you're--" He got cut off by a jolt of energy suddenly coursing through him. When he regained his senses, he knew right away that he wasn't in Hinata-Sou anymore.  
  
He found himself in a long, narrow valley, about a couple hundred feet wide, and bordered by high cliffs. A series of low rolling hills could be seen a short distance away. Nearby, a short structure stood, with ramps leading up to the top and down underground. In an instant, he recognized where he was: Blood Gulch. Besides, for him, the blue combat suit he was wearing was a dead giveaway. "Cool," he said. "Virtual Halo."  
  
"Not quite," Suu's voice said from inside his helmet. "This is Halo, that much is true, but that's all."  
  
A confused look appeared on Sean's face--as if it could be seen anyway. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"A year ago today, you gave Motoko a rather odd gift. I'm sure you remember what it was."  
  
"Of course," Sean said. "It was the video game disk I made to help her with her training. What does that have to do with this?"  
  
"It has everything to do with it," Sarah said.  
  
"She's right," Suu continued. "Ever since that day, I tried to figure out how to get into video games like you did. And today, I bring to you the fruits of my labors."  
  
"You're saying I'm in here for real?" Sean asked, almost not willing to believe it.  
  
"You sure are," Sarah chimed in. "And you're not alone, either. Look behind you."  
  
Sean turned around to find two people in identical outfits as his, except one was yellow and the other was red. It didn't take him long to figure out which was which, though it was obvious he was the only real person there. This was unimportant, however, as he was more focused on the firepower they were carrying; the yellow one had a pistol, while the red one wielded a shotgun, both of which pointed straight at him. "Oh, this is just great," Sean muttered.  
  
"I'm glad you agree," Suu said. "Cuz we're going to use you for a little target practice."  
  
"Whether you like it or not," Sarah added. "And to emphasize our point…" Sean saw the red one switch weapons, and he quickly wished she'd had stuck with the shotgun, as he had a feeling a rocket launcher was going to hurt a hell of a lot more. Before he could do anything, Sarah fired a rocket at his feet, the resulting explosion blacking out his senses. Five seconds later, he was suddenly aware of his surroundings again, and he saw his previous body laying on the ground next to him.  
  
"How did that feel?" Suu asked.  
  
"How do you think it felt?!" Sean shot back. "I got hit by a frigging rocket launcher for goodness sake! Thank God for respawning in this game, though. If there wasn't, I can only imagine what Shinobu would do to you two when she found out."  
  
"Well," Sarah said. "Since we don't have to worry about that, let's do this again, shall we?" The red player started to move forward, but stopped abruptly.  
  
"Sarah, wait," Suu said. "It's my turn." The yellow one then moved forward, shooting a pistol at Sean.  
  
This time around, Sean made an active effort to dodge the shots, while firing back with his pea shooter of a plasma pistol. Of course, all of this would only delay his inevitable demise. The next time he respawned, he found himself at the other end of the valley, out of range of his tormentors. "That was lucky," he thought. "Time to fight back." He hurried over to the nearby building, which was identical to the first one except for the blue markings on it, as opposed to the red ones on the base at the other end. As soon as he got there, he ran up the ramp, where a pistol and a sniper rifle were waiting for him.  
  
"Oh Sean…" Suu called out in a sing-song voice. "Where are you?"  
  
"Wouldn't you like to know?" Sean thought, being careful not to say anything out loud.  
  
"Come on out, Sean," Sarah said. "We're not done playing with you yet."  
  
"I'm sure," Sean thought. He had a good feeling his pursuers knew where he was, and it wouldn't take long for them to get there. Therefore, logic says he should get away from there A.S.A.P. Quickly he made his way off the base, heading in the direction of one of the sides of the canyon, where a narrow incline presented a vantage point for a viable offensive strike. When he reached the top, he spotted Suu and Sarah below. As soon as he did, he ducked back against the cliff wall so they didn't do the same. With sniper rifle in hand, he started to draw a bead on them, which was harder than it could have been as he didn't know how to work the zoom on the sight. "I have to make these first shots count," he thought. "I may not get another chance like this."  
  
Sean would took his time in aiming as his two adversaries marched their way obliviously towards blue base. "C'mon, stop moving, already," Sean thought. Then, an idea appeared in his head, and he began laughing out loud.  
  
"Hey," Sarah said. "What's so funny?"  
  
The red player stopped in its tracks, just like Sean hoped it would and, before it could do anything else, shot it right in the head. All of a sudden, a message appeared in his visor: "You killed DemonSpawn." He paid little attention to this, as he was more focused on shooting the yellow character before it could take revenge on its fallen comrade, making another message appear: "You killed TechFreak." The game announcer saying "Double Kill" only put an exclamation mark on what had just happened.  
  
"HEY!" Sarah said. "You weren't supposed to do that!"  
  
"Well, what did you expect me to do?" Sean asked after breathing a sigh of relief. "Just stand back and let you kill me time and again? Besides, that was some pretty lucky shooting on my part. I didn't even use the scope on this thing."  
  
"Well, you luck won't last," Suu said. "You may have gotten the drop on us that time, but you're bound to run out of ammo sooner or later."  
  
"She's right," Sean thought. "I've hardly been able to beat anyone from the outside. How do I expect to beat both Suu and Sarah now?" He quickly saw Suu reappear near blue base, and he quickly tried to shoot her down in order to prevent her from arming self, but her erratic movements coupled with Sean not taking enough time to aim conspired against him as Suu grabbed a sniper rifle and hid behind a part of the base, waiting for her chance to strike.  
  
Unfortunately for Sean, he was so engrossed in his standoff with Suu, he wasn't aware of Sarah sneaking up behind him until she whacked him in the back of the head with a shotgun, killing him instantly. "Nice one, Sarah!" Suu said with a giggle.  
  
"That was a cheep shot!" Sean yelled when he came back.  
  
"A cheap shot's better than no shot," Sarah said.  
  
"And speaking of shot…" Suu said. She then let her sniper rifle do the talking for her, taking advantage of Sean reappeared at blue base again, still a bit disoriented in doing so.  
  
"Is it going to be like this the--" Sean said, but was cut off when he was hit by a shotgun blast. This time, he was at red base, and Sarah was quickly upon him. This shot wasn't enough to kill, but it did damage him quite a bit. Sarah fired again, but Sean was able to dodge this time, but walked right into a plasma grenade, sticking to his side. "NO!!" He was somehow able to pry the thing off and was about to throw it back at Sarah, but it detonated in his hand, taking him with it.  
  
"This is so much fun," Sarah said.  
  
The next hour would be spent with Sean dying, coming back and dying again. By then, the score was DemonSpawn: 43, TechFreak: 37, RPGer: 1 (He learned the hard way not to fire a rocket launcher at close range.). "Well," Suu said. "We have to get ready for school now. See you later!"  
  
"Yeah," Sarah said. "We'll be back to kick your butt when we get back."  
  
"Hey!" Sead yelled. "You can't just go off and leave me here all alone!"  
  
"You won't be alone," Suu said. "You'll have a bunch more friends to play with soon enough."  
  
Sean thought Suu meant he was being sent into Campaign mode, which he didn't mind so much, as he figured his chances for survival would be somewhat better that way, but a message on his visor told him another story altogether, and upon reading it, his heart fell into his stomach: "Now connecting to X-Box Live."  
  
"Oh, you did not just do that!" Sean said. "SUU, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE!!"  
  
"Have fun!" Suu said.  
  
"Get back here!" Sean said, his voice starting to get a bit hoarse. After a few moments of radio silence, he knew he had been left stranded. "Great," he muttered. "Just great. Well, it's only a matter of time before somebody else shows up to turn me into Swiss cheese, so I'd better get ready." He didn't know exactly how much time he had, so right away he began familiarizing himself with the various weapons, paying closer attention to the pistol and the sniper rifle, as they were his preferred guns. After about twenty minutes, text started appearing in his visor…  
  
"Now entering game."  
  
"Here we go," Sean said, preparing himself for the coming onslaught.  
  
"Game Name: Fun Run 50."  
  
"You gotta be kidding me," Sean muttered, immediately recognizing that custom game and what it signified.  
  
"Location: Blood Gulch. Total Players: 5. Player 1: RPGer. Player 2: Archmage."  
  
"I knew it." He knew he was going to be going up against his friends from back home; and he wasn't looking forward to it, either.  
  
"Player 3: Archmagus. Player 4: ABitch. Player 5: OneBadMoFo."  
  
"Oh, hell no," Sean said upon seeing that last name, for that was none other than Jimmy. For him, things just went from bad to worse.  
  
"Hey, Sean," a voice said as soon as the game got under way. "You ready to have some fun?"  
  
"Shut up, Ross!" Sean shouted. "I'm in the game!"  
  
"So what?" another voice (Jeremy) asked. "So are we."  
  
"You don't understand," Sean said. "I'm IN the game! See me waving?"  
  
"How did you get in there?" A third voice (Zack) asked.  
  
"Suu did it, how else?" Suu and Sarah have played with Sean's friends for a while now and they have gotten to know each other a bit.  
  
"Looks like we got ourselves a target," Jimmy said.  
  
"Hey, don't make this four on one!" Sean said. "I just went two on one with Suu and Sarah and lost a combined 80 to 1!"  
  
"Ouch," Zack said.  
  
"Well, it was mostly because they stayed at each base and kept picking me off before I could do anything."  
  
"Something like that should teach you something," Jimmy said.  
  
"And what might that be?" Sean asked.  
  
"Never stand still in Halo if you hope to survive."  
  
"Easier said than--" Sean wasn't able to finish his sentence, as he was shot in the head by a sniper rifle.  
  
"Okay, that was just mean," Zack said.  
  
"I know." Though nobody could see it, Jimmy had an evil grin on his face.  
  
--- 3:21 PM  
  
"We're home!" Shinobu said as she, along with Suu, Sarah and Motoko entered the living room to find Kitsune on the couch watching television.  
  
"Hey y'all," Kitsune said. "How was school?"  
  
"Pretty good," Shinobu said, looking around. "Hey, where's Sean?"  
  
"Couldn't tell ya. Haven't seen him all day. I'm starting to wonder myself."  
  
Shinobu turned to find Suu and Sarah chuckling to each other. "What have you done with Sean?"  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Suu said, stifling a laugh.  
  
"Tell me what you did with him," Shinobu demanded.  
  
"We shouldn't mess with her," Sarah whispered in Suu's ear. "Remember, the dork's not the only one with magic."  
  
Suu nodded. "Alright, we'll take you to him. I was thinking of letting him go when we got home anyway."  
  
"I gotta see this," Kitsune said, following the group as they went up to Suu's room.  
  
"I wonder how he's fared since we left," Suu said as they made their way to the television. On it they saw a figure in blue moving about a snowy landscape. "Well, he still around. That's a good sign."  
  
"You mean that's him?!" Shinobu asked. She looked on as Sean got involved in a gunfight with another figure in black. Needless to say, this got Shinobu concerned. "Suu, why did you do this?"  
  
"I'll explain later," Suu said, intent on watching the battle unfold. A few intense moments went by and the black player fell to the ground. "Well, it looks like he's improved somewhat."  
  
"Well, considering how long he's been in there, I should hope so," Sarahcommented. A rocket then came out of nowhere and hit Sean square in the chest. "Maybe I spoke too soon."  
  
"SEAN!" Shinobu screamed upon seeing Sean's motionless body on the screen.  
  
Suu looked back to find Shinobu heading for the door. "Kitsune, get her."  
  
Without missing a beat, Kitsune had Shinobu by the arm just as she was about to leave the room. "Let go of me!" Shinobu said, trying to get free.  
  
"Shinobu, we've been over this," Kitsune said. "He's in a video game; he's going to be fine, I'm sure of it."  
  
"Hey, Sean," Suu said, now wearing a headset. "Enjoying yourself?"  
  
"Suu, get me the hell out of here!" Sean yelled. "I've died more times than I can count, and getting shot from behind is really getting old!"  
  
"I guess you've had enough for one day," Suu said. "Sarah, will you do the honors?"  
  
"Whatever," Sarah said. "It's too easy to beat him that way anyway." She pressed a few buttons and Sean reappeared in the chair he was sitting in before all this began.  
  
"Hey, Suu," Ross said. "Thanks for giving us a great plaything to mess around with."  
  
"No problem," Suu said. "It's just something I've been tinkering around with."  
  
"Yeah, and I'd appreciate it if you'd tinker with someone besides me!" Sean said, standing up.  
  
"Why did you agree to it if you knew what was going to happen?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Simple: I didn't. They just dragged me in here and sent me in there."  
  
"You're not hurt or anything, are you? If you are, then I'll--"  
  
"I'm fine, Shinobu, calm down. Let's just get out of here before something else happens to me."  
  
Sean, Shinobu and Kitsune went down into the living room to find Motoko there, obviously waiting for something. "Hey, Motoko," Sean said. "What's up?"  
  
"For my birthday, Jimmy is taking me for a day out on the town. He just called and is on his way."  
  
"Oh," Sean said, not exactly eager to see him.  
  
A few minutes went by and Jimmy entered the front door. "Hey, Motoko," he said. He quickly noticed that Sean was glaring daggers at him from the other end of the room. "I didn't expect to see you here."  
  
"I can't imagine why," Sean muttered.  
  
"Um, did I miss something?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Long story," Jimmy said. "Shall we go?"  
  
"Hold on," Keitaro said, just entering the room. "May I ask you a favor?"  
  
"Shoot."  
  
"It's just that I caught wind of yours and Motoko's plans and I was wondering if Naru and I may accompany you."  
  
"Motoko?" Jimmy asked, turning the question to the birthday girl.  
  
"I don't see why not," Motoko said.  
  
"Thank you," Keitaro said. "I hope this will lift Naru's spirits. We won't be long."  
  
"Naru has been a bit listless lately, hasn't she?" Sean asked.  
  
About a half hour later, Naru and Keitaro came down the stairs. Everyone present could tell that Naru wasn't all too excited about going out, but nobody said anything about it and the foursome headed out to see the sights. It wouldn't be until nightfall when they began heading for home--and that's when their trip hit some turbulence.  
  
--- 9:10 PM  
  
"This has been just wonderful," Motoko said as they walked out of a movie theater. "Thank you for planning all this."  
  
"No sweat," Jimmy said.  
  
Keitaro paid no mind to anything that they said, as his attention was focused more on Naru. Much to his dismay, this little outing did little to help Naru's condition. She could barely even stand on her own two feet anymore. "Are you sure you're alright?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," Naru said. "How many time do I have to tell you?"  
  
"Well, we meet again," A voice said from nearby.  
  
"Oh no," Keitaro thought. "Of all times, why now?"  
  
"And who are you?" Jimmy asked.  
  
"His name is Kentaro," Keitaro said. "He's been more or less stalking Naru ever since we met."  
  
"My dear Naru," Kentaro said, completely ignoring Keitaro's comment. "What has befallen you?"  
  
"Get away from me," Naru muttered, glaring at him.  
  
"But Naru, I'm only worried about your well-being."  
  
"You heard the lady," Jimmy said. "Back off."  
  
"And just who might you be?"  
  
"Someone who can kick your ass faster than you can blink."  
  
"Jimmy, don't waste your time on him," Naru said. "I can handle this myself."  
  
"You're in no condition to fight," Motoko said. "Maybe you should let us handle this."  
  
"I said I can do it myself." All of a sudden, Naru's fist hit Kentaro's face, sending him flying. Keitaro took a step forward, raising his hand to shield his eyes (which looked silly considering the time of day).  
  
"Hey, he only went a couple blocks this time," he said in an effort to bring a lively spark out of Naru. "Maybe you're starting to lose your touch." A couple moments went by without a response. "Naru?" Keitaro turned around to find Naru laying on the ground, face down; she wasn't moving. "NARU?!"  
  
End of Chapter LIV  
  
And the suspence begins yet again. What has sucked the life out of Naru and what can be done to get her back to normal before it's too late? See you then! Please R&R! 


	58. Ch55: Answered Prayers

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH, but the OCs are mine.  
  
Oh my, I seem to have gone and done it again, huh? Why can't I just stop making cliffhangers like this? Oh well, it keeps you guessing, so it can't be all bad.  
  
Chapter LV: Answered Prayers  
  
"No," Keitaro thought. "This can't be happening. It just can't." He looked at the lifeless girl in his arms as he ran across town; Jimmy and Motoko were following close behind him. "You're going to be alright, Naru. You have to. I don't know what I'd do if I ever lost you." Tears were already streaming down his cheeks. "Damn it, why did I have you come out here in the first place? It's my fault this happened. IT'S ALL MY FAULT!!" Ignoring the pain in his legs, he ran up the steps to Hinata-Sou.  
  
"Would you do that for me if I ever passed out?" Motoko asked.  
  
"For one thing," Jimmy said. "I'd try to keep it from happening in the first place, but yeah, I would. What I can't figure out is why he's not taking her to the hospital."  
  
"Because there are two people in there who can work wonders, remember? Sean and Shinobu can do things that are beyond modern medical science."  
  
Keitaro somehow managed to open the front door and went into the living room, where he found a group of people watching television. However, the person he was looking for wasn't amongst them. "Where's Sean?!" he asked frantically.  
  
"I think he's in his room," Shinobu said. Before she could say anything more, Keitaro bolted up the stairs.  
  
"What was that all about?" Kitsune asked. "And why was he carrying Naru like he was?"  
  
"Maybe they were practicing for their honeymoon or something," Mutsumi said, getting some strange looks for her efforts.  
  
"I seriously doubt that," Kitsune said. "If they were, I don't think he'd be as worried as he was. Besides, Naru wasn't even moving. Something tells me something bad just happened."  
  
"And something tells me you're right," Jimmy said from the front door.  
  
"What happened?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Naru collapsed," Motoko said. "She has appeared weaker as of late. It seems her body has finally given out."  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"We will find out soon enough."  
  
"Come to think of it, why has she been less energetic lately?" Kitsune asked. Nobody seemed to have an answer.  
  
"I guess I'll be on my way, then," Jimmy said. "Sorry your birthday turned out like this, Motoko."  
  
"It's not your fault," Motoko said. "I'll see you later." As Jimmy walked out, Motoko looked towards the stairs. "I hope you're alright, Naru."  
  
---  
  
Meanwhile, Sean was sitting in his room, still recovering from what he felt was Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As much as he tried, he just couldn't get the vision of various firearms being pointed at him out of his head. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to play those first-person shooters ever again," he muttered. This whole ordeal also brought to his mind memories of his fears of Wolfenstein 3D from way back when.  
  
A knock at the door brought him back to reality--in more ways than one. "Good, a distraction." He got up and opened the door to find Keitaro there with Naru in his arms. "Hey, what's up?"  
  
"It's Naru," Keitaro said, fear etched on his face. "You need to do something to help her, you have to!"  
  
"Keitaro, calm down," Sean said. "Bring her in." Keitaro entered the room and carefully placed Naru on the futon. "Okay, tell me exactly what happened."  
  
"Well, we were on our way back home when Kentaro came by. Naru removed the annoyance in her usual way, and that was about when she passed out."  
  
"I see. I'll see what I can do for her. I must ask you to leave so I can focus better on what I'm doing." Somewhat reluctantly, Keitaro walked out, leaving Sean alone with the motionless Naru. "You should consider yourself lucky to have someone that cares so much about you," Sean said, knowing full well that she couldn't hear him. "Geez, I wanted a distraction, but not this badly. Alright, let's get down to business." He then proceeded to magically scan Naru's body to find the root of what was ailing her.  
  
---  
  
Shinobu poked her head around the corner and couldn't help but feel sorry for Keitaro as he sat against the wall, his knees pressed against his chest and his eyes fixed on the Sean's door opposite him. She ducked back and looked towards the crowd behind her. "Whatever's going on," she said in a hushed tone to keep Keitaro from hearing. "He's not taking it very well."  
  
"I don't see why he would," Kitsune said. "His girlfriend is unconscious. How did you expect him to react?"  
  
"Good point."  
  
"How are we going to cheer him up?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"I could play with him for a while," Suu said.  
  
"Suu," Kitsune said. "No offense, but the way you play, I don't think that will work."  
  
"I'm going to talk to him," Shinobu said, walking out into the hall before anyone could say otherwise. "Keitaro?" she asked. "Are you alright?" When Keitaro didn't respond, she sat down next to him. "Don't worry. If there's anything that can be done, Sean will figure it out."  
  
Keitaro glanced at Shinobu then turned his gaze down to the floor in front of him. "I only hope she can forgive me."  
  
"Forgive you for what?"  
  
"If I hadn't convinced her to go out, this never would have happened."  
  
"Don't beat yourself up. You couldn't have known."  
  
"She was in no condition for an outing like that. I should have known better. I should have…" Keitaro then broke down, crying into Shinobu's shoulder. "Why did this have to happen? Why?!"  
  
Sean's door opened, getting Keitaro's attention. "Well," Sean said. "The good news is that Naru's still living." From the look on his face, it was obvious that there was bad news forthcoming. "However, her energy levels are almost nonexistent. Even Motoko wouldn't be able to sense anything from two inches away. For all intents and purposes, she's in a coma." It hurt Sean to be so upfront, but he knew that pulling punches would only make things worse.  
  
Keitaro couldn't have looked more depressed if he tried. "Oh, is that all?" he asked sarcastically.  
  
"Actually, no." Keitaro didn't see that response coming. "My analysis uncovered what was wrong, but not what caused it. Even now, I have no explanation as to why this happened in the first place."  
  
"What do you mean you don't know?" Kitsune asked, making her presence known. "She's been getting weaker and weaker for the last couple months now!"  
  
"But has she ever given a reason for it?" Sean shot back.  
  
Kitsune backed off a bit. "Not really."  
  
"Exactly. I don't think even she knows why all this happened."  
  
"Is she going to be alright?" Keitaro asked.  
  
Sean shook his head. "It's too soon to tell right now. Tell me, has Naru done anything extra lately; like school activities or anything?"  
  
"Not that I know of."  
  
"You see, that's what's troubling me right now. If things have been the same all this time, either something like this should never have happened at all or it should have happened sooner."  
  
"Are you saying her body may have just shut down for no apparent reason?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"For lack of a better way of putting it, yes." He motioned for everyone--which now included the rest of the girls, who had joined them at some point in the conversation--to enter his room.  
  
"Do you have any ideas for how to cure Naru?" Motoko asked.  
  
"One, but it's not a sure thing by any means. What I'm going to do is send some of my own energy into Naru's body, giving her a jump start and hopefully getting her up and around."  
  
"That sounds simple enough," Mutsumi said.  
  
"That's what you think. If I don't use enough energy, it won't do any good, while if I use too much… well, I really don't want to think about what would happen then."  
  
"I have faith in you, Sean," Keitaro said.  
  
"Let's just hope that's enough." Sean rubbed his hands together and placed them on Naru's stomach. "I'm going to need silence so I can concentrate."  
  
"Then why did you have us come in here?" Kitsune muttered.  
  
"Probably so we wouldn't be wondering what's going on," Shinobu whispered back.  
  
A few moments went by and Naru began to glow. "C'mon," Keitaro thought. "You can pull through, I know you can." A few minutes went by and Naru didn't move, and Keitaro's faith began to wane. "Please, Naru, don't leave me. We've been through too much for it all to end now."  
  
About fifteen minutes went by and the glow faded away. "That's it," Sean said with a sigh, shaking his head. "If I went on for much longer, Naru wouldn't be the only lifeless body in the room."  
  
"You did your best, Sean," Shinobu said. "That's all we could have asked for."  
  
"NO!" Keitaro yelled. "You can't just let Naru die like this!"  
  
"I never said I was going to," Sean said. "I'm not going to give up that easily, but it might take me a while to come up with something else."  
  
"Damn it!" Keitaro grabbed Sean by the shirt. "Naru's life is at stake here!"  
  
"Don't you think I know that?! You aren't exactly helping right now!"  
  
Keitaro quickly let go. "I-I'm sorry. It's just that this whole thing happened so suddenly, I--"  
  
"I know this has been hard on you, but if there's a way to save her I'll figure it out."  
  
"Oh my," Mutsumi said. "If you can't do anything, who can?"  
  
"I don't know," Sean said. Suddenly, a light went on in his head. "On second thought, maybe I do."  
  
"What do you mean?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Get back to me on that." The others looked on in wonder as he raised his hand to the side of his face in the telephone position. "I hope this gets through," he muttered as he heard dial tone. He didn't even bother dialing, opting instead to send some energy into the line to make the connection. A few moments went by and the ringing began. It rang a couple times more without anyone picking up. "Geez," he thought. "One would think that when someone calls you inside your own head, you'd--"  
  
"Who is it and how did you do that?" A voice asked from the other line.  
  
"Hey, it's me, Sean."  
  
"Oh, hello, Sean. It's been a long time."  
  
"Yeah, it has. Listen, we've got a bit of a situation here and we need your help."  
  
"What's the problem?"  
  
"Well, one of the girls is in a bad way right now."  
  
"Why not get her to a hospital?"  
  
"Let's put it this way: If I can't do anything to help, what good will getting her to a hospital do?"  
  
"Goodness, if it's beyond your power, it must be pretty serious. I'll get there as soon as I can."  
  
"I look forward to your arrival."  
  
"And who was that?" Kitsune asked as Sean hung up.  
  
"Probably the only one who can sort this whole thing out right now," Sean said.  
  
"Is it anybody we know?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Not exactly."  
  
"You're going to leave Naru's fate in the hands of some stranger?!" Keitaro asked.  
  
"She isn't a stranger to me, Keitaro, so pipe down. Trust me; I know what I'm doing."  
  
"So how long will it take for our savior to arrive?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"It shouldn't take too long," Sean said, looking at his watch on reflex. About a minute later, another being appeared in the room, startling almost everyone. "And there she is now. How you doin'?"  
  
"Never better, thanks to you," the new arrival said.  
  
Everyone just stared slack-jawed at the woman standing before them. "You gotta be kidding me," Kitsune said.  
  
"No way…" Keitaro said, switching glances between the visitor and his girlfriend. "There's just no way."  
  
"YAY!" Suu cheered. "Now we have two Narus to play with!"  
  
"Not quite," Sean said. "Everyone, this is Amy, goddess of knowledge."  
  
"It's a pleasure to meet you all," Amy said politely.  
  
"Thank you for coming on such short notice, Amy," Sean said. "I'm sorry if I inconvenienced you or anything."  
  
"It's no bother. You know me, I usually have my nose stuck in some book, and I needed a bit of a break from it anyway. Now, where is this ailing friend you asked me to help?" Everyone moved out of the way, and Amy's eyes grew wide when she saw Naru laying there. "She looks exactly like me," she thought. "Now all those comments Linda and Stephanie have been giving me are starting to make sense."  
  
"Please!" Keitaro said, breaking Amy out of her thoughts. "You have to save Naru! Sean believes in you and so do I!"  
  
Amy nodded, then knelt down next to Naru. "Alright, fill me in on her condition up to this point. How long has she been out?"  
  
"About half an hour," Sean said. "Despite my efforts, I was unable to figure out how or why. Over the last couple months, she has been slowly weakening until… well, just look at her. I tried to send some of my own energy into her, but it didn't take."  
  
"I see," Amy said, a look of concentration on her face. "Alright," she continued. "She's in a coma; energy loss for no apparent reason; not accepting outside energy; and all without any known reason for it. Hmm…"  
  
"May I make a suggestion?" Motoko asked.  
  
"Motoko, don't interrupt a goddess when she's working!" Kitsune said.  
  
"No, it's alright," Amy said. "I'm always open to new ideas. It's kind of a job requirement, you know?" She turned to Motoko. "Go ahead."  
  
"Well, it's just that you and Naru are identical."  
  
"Well duh," Kitsune said. "We can see that."  
  
"But there's more to it than that. Their energy wavelengths are exactly the same."  
  
"I see where you're going with this," Amy said, stroking her chin. "Maybe the reason why Sean's energy didn't revive her was because it wasn't the proper frequency."  
  
"It's definitely worth a shot," Sean said.  
  
Amy nodded. "Cross your fingers, everyone." She held her hands out over Naru's body, which then began glowing once again.  
  
"Please let it work this time," everyone thought at once, though it was most prevalent in Keitaro's mind, as it should be. Fortunately, it wouldn't take long for them to see results.  
  
"Hey, look!" Keitaro said after about a minute and a half. Sure enough, Naru's hand was twitching ever so slightly. Another few seconds went by and her thought processes began anew…  
  
"What the heck happened?" Naru thought. "Oh wait, now I remember. I was out on a date with Keitaro, Jimmy and Motoko. That creep Kentaro showed up, I punched him, then… then… the rest is all a blank. I must have overexerted myself." Slowly, she opened her eyes. "How did I get indoors?"  
  
"Thank goodness," she heard Sean say. "For a minute there, I thought we were going to lose you."  
  
"Where am I?"  
  
"In your room."  
  
"How did I get here?"  
  
"You passed out about half an hour ago. You're lucky Keitaro got you here so quickly."  
  
"I'm not surprised," Naru thought. Her vision focused about as well as her eyes would allow without her glasses to aid her, but it was enough to recognize those around her, including one that she probably shouldn't have seen. "Sean, can I ask you something?"  
  
"Sure, what?"  
  
"What am I doing kneeling over myself?"  
  
"See?" Kitsune said. "Even she's fooled by her looks."  
  
"It's good to see you awake," Amy said. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Amy, goddess of knowledge and the one who revived you."  
  
"Thank goodness," Naru said. "For a moment there, I thought I had a twin sister I didn't know about. How did you I needed help?"  
  
"Sean called me. It was a good thing he did, too, as there was no telling how much longer you would have lasted."  
  
"I guess Keitaro's worrying wasn't for nothing after all," Naru thought as she started to sit up.  
  
"Are you sure you should be getting up so quickly?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"I'm alright now, Shinobu." Naru said, turning to face Sean. "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done without you."  
  
"As much as I appreciate the thought, there's someone who needs you a lot more than I do,"  
  
"You're right." Naru looking towards Keitaro. "There is." She moved over to him and gave him a hug and a kiss. "You kept telling me to take it easy. If I had only listened, this wouldn't have happened."  
  
"Don't be too sure." That brought everyone's attention back to Amy. "If what I've heard is true, it would have only been a matter of time before your body would have given out. What you did tonight must have just sped up the process. What I'm wondering is how did the process get started in the first place?"  
  
"What do you saying?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"I'm saying that there had to be some reason for Naru to lose her energy. These things don't just happen at random."  
  
"I don't think you need to worry about it anymore," Naru said. "I feel as energetic as ever."  
  
Amy shook her head. "If I'm right, what I did will turn out to be only a temporary solution. I need to find out the cause of all this and keep it from happening again."  
  
"Is that really necessary?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"Hey, I got called here to do something and I'm going to see it through to the end. Besides, I want to save him future grief."  
  
"Thank you," Keitaro said.  
  
"My pleasure. Now, let's get started, shall we?"  
  
"Um, If you don't mind," Naru said. "I think we should do this somewhere a bit more comfortable."  
  
"Sure," Amy said. "Did you have a place in mind?"  
  
"The living room would probably be best," Motoko said.  
  
"Lead the way."  
  
Everyone got up and made their way downstairs. Along the way, Sean noticed that Keitaro and Naru were holding hands. It was apparent that neither of them were willing to let go any time soon. "You know," Sean semi-whispered. "Things like this should never happen to such a cute couple."  
  
"I agree," Any said. "And it never will again if I have anything to say about it." When they reached the living room, Amy couldn't help but notice that everyone was still present. "Um, you don't all have to be here."  
  
"Hey, it's not often that we get to see a goddess at work," Kitsune said.  
  
"Yeah," Suu said. "The only one's we've seen before you were Linda and Stephanie."  
  
"Well, if you're expecting anything like what those two do, you're going to be disappointed. It's sort of like comparing a librarian to Superman."  
  
"Oh," Suu said, suddenly disinterested. "In that case, if anyone wants me, I'll be in my room." With that, she bounded off up the stairs.  
  
"That's the last thing I need," Amy muttered.  
  
"What did you mean by that?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Over the last few years, that girl has given me more work than Edison did in his lifetime. Being innovative is one thing, but she's something else altogether." Amy shook the thought of whatever freak of science will appear on her bookshelf next and got back to the matter at hand. "Alright then, Naru when did you first start feeling weaker than usual?"  
  
"I'm not exactly sure," Naru said. "I guess it was around late August, early September. Back then, I thought I just wasn't getting enough sleep, so I didn't think too much of it."  
  
"Hmm," Amy thought, adding this information to what she already knew in an attempt to make sense of it all. "Could it be that--no, it couldn't be, could it? As farfetched as it may sound, it's the only possible conclusion; it just seems like too much of a coincidence to be anything else." "I think I've got it," she said out loud after what felt like an eternity for everyone else in the room.  
  
"Well, don't keep us in suspense," Kitsune said. "Tell us already."  
  
"Okay then, pay attention; this might get a bit complicated." Amy took a deep breath and began her explanation. "Sean, remember the last time we crossed paths?"  
  
"How could I forget?" Sean asked rhetorically.  
  
"Yes, well, I think that may have started this whole thing."  
  
"I'm not following you," Sean said.  
  
"Yeah, what does him starting up your sex drive have to do with Naru losing her energy?" Kitsune asked.  
  
"If my theory is correct, it has everything to do with it."  
  
"I can't wait to hear this," Kitsune muttered.  
  
"Ever since then, I've wondered why, despite Stephanie's efforts, my libido was, for lack of a better word, nonexistent for the first few millennia of my existence. Of course, I never gave it any thought back then, as I was too dedicated to my work."  
  
"It seems like you and Naru just keep having more and more in common, doesn't it?" Mutsumi asked.  
  
"Exactly. As Motoko pointed out, Naru and I have the same energy frequency. Now, my knowledge of such things isn't exactly encyclopedic, since it's more in the jurisdiction of Linda and Stacy.  
  
"Who's Stacy?" Naru asked.  
  
"Goddess of martial arts," Sean said. "You two would get along great, Motoko.""As I was saying," Amy continued. "From what I do know about the subject, it's extremely rare, if not impossible for two people to have the same wavelength."  
  
"If that's true, then how is ours the same?" Naru asked.  
  
"I believe the only way for it to happen is for one to give energy to the other. Sean knows first hand that it's not as easy as it sounds."  
  
"In more ways than one," Sean muttered, remembering his past battles with Shonoko.  
  
"The only way for someone to accept energy like you did, Naru, would be to have the same frequency as the one giving it from the very beginning. This means that I must have been sending you some of my life force since the day you were born without even knowing it. It seems that the energy that would have been spent on my libido was sent to you instead."  
  
"And after my visit," Sean said. "Naru's lifeline got cut. Should have known this whole thing was my fault."  
  
"Don't blame yourself," Amy said. "None of us knew about this at the time. Besides, if anybody's to blame for this, it would be my sisters, since they got you to do what you did in the first place."  
  
"Um, that's all well and good," Naru said. "But how are going to keep my body from shutting down again?"  
  
"Simple," Amy said. "I'll just have to reestablish a link."  
  
"Yeah," Kitsune muttered. "Real simple."  
  
Everyone looked on as Amy plucked one of her hairs out of her head. Motoko noticed her send some energy into the strand, causing it to stiffen. "Hold still," Amy said. "This will only hurt for a second."  
  
"What are you--" Naru started to ask, but didn't get to finish. With a flick of her wrist, Amy sent the hair flying at Naru, hitting her right in the chest.  
  
"What are you doing?!" Keitaro asked.  
  
"Don't worry about it," Amy said. "See for yourself." Everyone turned their sights on Naru. Amy's hair was now sinking into her body where it had made contact, only causing her some slight discomfort. "See? She's fine; and it should stay that way for longer than a couple months this time, but if her condition deteriorates again, don't hesitate to call me."  
  
"Thank you," Naru said. "I owe you my life."  
  
"May our paths cross again," Amy said.  
  
"Yeah," Sean said. "Preferably without the sense of urgency."  
  
"Yeah," Ami said with a chuckle. She then vanished without a trace.  
  
"Well, I don't know about the rest of you," Sean said. "But I've had just about enough excitement for one day."  
  
"You said it," Naru and Keitaro said in unison.  
  
"Man, what else can happen today?" Sean thought.  
  
"Hey, Sean!" Suu called from the top of the stairs. "You wanna help me test some more of my inventions?"  
  
"I just HAD to ask, didn't I?!"  
  
End of Chapter LV  
  
Okay, be honest with me. Did ANY of you see that coming? If you did, then you're freaking psychic. Anyway, see you next time. Please R&R! 


	59. Ch56: No Way Out

Disclaimer: I own no part of Love Hina, but Sean is me.  
  
It's about time I got another chapter finished.  
  
Chapter LVI: No Way Out  
  
Thursday, 4/16/2009 8:45 AM  
  
"Bye, Sean!" Shinobu said. "I'll see you when we get back!"  
  
"Have fun!" Sean called back as he watched everyone head off to their respective learning institutions from the third floor window. "There they go," he muttered. "And here I am, all alone once again." He didn't even have Kitsune to talk to, as she was at a meeting at the newspaper and there was no telling when she would get back. "Oh well, might as well get to work." He snapped his finger and disappeared, only to reappear a minute later, broom in one hand, headphones in the other. Now, these headphones appeared to have no function whatsoever, as only half the cord was there, but if one were to look in his room, the other half would be found, connected to his laptop.  
  
Aside from video games, music was probably his one escape from the real world. Plus, it made the work of sweeping the floor go by all that much quicker. He has had a thing for singing for a number of years now, but his talents weren't as apparent then and there, as a good portion of his music was out of his voice range, forcing him to move to a lower octave. He didn't really care about this however, as nobody was around to criticize his abilities, not to mention his habit of using his broom as either a guitar or a mic stand. One would think he frequented the karaoke clubs, but he has never been much of an outgoing person, so why start now?  
  
Anyway, after an amount of time that he was not fully aware of, he finishes that particular chore and decides to give his arms a bit of a rest before moving on to the next one. He leaned his back up against a wall, singing along to a ChumbaWumba song and practicing his British accent for no reason whatsoever. This was another of Sean's habits: He usually tries to sound like the artists on the CD, radio or whatever might be playing at the time. He'd be the first to admit that some tries turned out better than others. Some of his more successful impersonations included Blink 182's "I Miss You" (the low part, of course) and various songs by Outkast, even though he didn't have albums from either group. (A/N: Okay, I think that's about enough self-reflection for one chapter, so let's move on, shall we?)  
  
As he put his weight up against the wall, he is shocked to notice it give way, but could do nothing to stop himself as he fell through a hidden door set into the middle of the wall. "Whoa," he said, now thankful to be hanging by one leg, as he had just happened upon a passageway leading straight down; he couldn't see the bottom. "That would have hurt," he muttered. When he got his bearings back, he noticed a ladder leading down into the unknown and he instantly made a grab for it, as he didn't feel like hanging upside down all day long.  
  
Without his weight to keep it down any longer, the secret door quickly snapped shut, enveloping Sean in complete darkness. As soon as this happened, he reached a hand out blindly towards it to try and open it again, but found no sign that there had ever been an opening there in the first place. "Wonderful," Sean muttered. "Now I'm stuck in here." He looked down--which didn't make any sense as he couldn't even see the ladder he was holding on to. "Might as well see where this thing leads. Not that I have much of a choice in the matter."  
  
Slowly, he made his way down, not knowing just how long it would take to reach the bottom, all the while wondering how he had been so oblivious to this secret passage for all this time. His thoughts stopped when he found the last rung of the ladder, but his feet never made contact with solid ground. "Oh, this is just great. I seriously hope this thing isn't bottomless. Shinobu would have a fit. Well, she may anyway if I can't find a way back sometime soon."  
  
Not knowing what else to do, he conjured up a ball of light and sent it down in order to find out just how deep this passage was. As the light made its way down, Sean magnified his vision in order to make sure he didn't lose sight of it--just in case. Two minutes later, it was still going, and there was still no sign of it ever coming to a stop. "You have got to be freakin' kidding me," he muttered. For him, things just seemed to keep getting worse and worse, as his arms were starting to get tired and falling was definitely something he didn't want to do. However, he felt there was nothing else he could do, since there didn't appear to be anything other direction to go.  
  
"Well, here goes nothing." Reluctantly, he let go of the ladder and began to plummet towards certain oblivion. After a minute of free fall, he passed by the light sphere he had made not too long ago. "This is definitely not my day," he said as the light quickly became not much more than a speck in the distance above him. His thoughts quickly turned to how he was going to survive the impact forthcoming; provided there was actually going to be one. The best thing he could think of was to put up his shield and hope that it would do the job.  
  
Sean would spend the next minute or two with his eyes shut tight. Even if they were open, he wouldn't be able to see his hand in front of his face in the pitch black darkness. All of a sudden, an odd sensation flowed through his body. It was as though he had just passed through a barrier or something. He didn't have a chance to contemplate this however, as he hit solid ground a split-second later, head first. The force of the crash should have turned his whole head into peanut butter--and not the chunky kind, either--but his shield was still functioning and held up under the stress, but barely.  
  
"Oh man," Sean muttered as he struggled to get up, holding his head in the process. He wasn't in any pain or anything, but there was a distinct ringing present. "I wouldn't want to do that again." Who would? He opened his eyes and instantly realized that the absolute dark had been replaced by a dim illumination coming from somewhere in the distance. He knew for sure that it wasn't of his own creation, as he had left that old light ball in his wake long ago. From what he could see, he had ended up in a natural looking cavern. Instantly, he looked up, but only found a ceiling no more than three feet above his head with no indication of a portal of any sort. It's just as well, as that way probably have been a dead end anyway. Any way you look at it, Sean knew this was most likely a one-way trip.  
  
As he was still a bit disoriented, he used the cave wall to steady himself as he walked towards wherever the light was coming from. It didn't take long for him to reach what turned out to be the mouth of the cave, but he outright refused to believe his eyes when he got there. "What the hell is going on here?" he asked himself. Indeed, after falling at least four or five miles straight down, one wouldn't expect to find himself above ground, much less in a forest. It was as though the laws of space and time were being rewritten just to mess with his head.  
  
"Are you sure you weren't just hearing things?"  
  
"Oh no," Sean thought when he heard the unfamiliar voice. "That's the last thing I need right now."  
  
"My ears don't lie," another voice said. "There's something over here, I just know it."  
  
Sean started to get worried when he heard footsteps coming his way. How was he going to explain himself to complete strangers? Before he could think of a good escape plan, two men appeared out of the trees. "Excuse me," one of them said. "But did you happen to hear anything nearby?"  
  
"Did it sound like a crash or something?" Sean asked.  
  
"Yes, that's exactly what it was!"  
  
Sean placed his hand to the back of his head. "Yeah, that was probably me you just heard." He pointed his thumb back into the cave. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you, what with the huge crater and all."  
  
"How is that possible?" the other man asked in disbelief. "The ceiling in that cave couldn't be more than twelve feet high."  
  
"Long story," Sean said. "Long and very complicated. I'm still trying to figure it all out myself."  
  
"Pardon me for asking," the first traveler said. "But why are you wearing such odd clothing?"  
  
"This coming from one of Robin Hood's merry men," Sean thought. "Should I be asking you the same thing?"  
  
"Surely you jest," the first man said. "Do you say that you do not recognize the traditional garb of the Kai Lords?"  
  
"Alas," Sean said, going along with the dialect. "I do not recognize the attire nor these Kai Lords of which you speak."  
  
"You must live a great distance away to have never heard of us," the second Kai Lord said.  
  
"That all depends on where I am now," Sean said. "I have been wondering this ever since my arrival."  
  
"Why, you are in the Fryelund Forest," Lord A said.  
  
Sean shook his head. "I am afraid that does not help in the slightest. Maybe if I had a map, I could make some sense out of all this and possibly show you where I am from, but at this rate, optimism is not exactly on my side."  
  
"Why don't you come along with us?"  
  
"Are you sure that's such a good idea?" Lord B asked.  
  
"We can't just leave him out here, can we? Without any sense of direction, he would get lost for sure."  
  
"Yeah, no kidding," Sean added. "Lead the way."  
  
The three were just about to get under way when Lord A noticed something peculiar. "If you don't mind my asking, what are those things in your ears?"  
  
"Hmm?" Sean had completely forgotten that he still had the headphones on. "Oh, nothing," he said, quickly putting them in his pocket.  
  
Introductions were made as the trio walked through the forest. The first one, the one who heard Sean's entry, was named Sly Fox, while the second went by Steel Hand. Of course, these weren't their real names, rather those given to them by those at the Kai monastery where they have been training. Both of them were roughly 5'7", but that was about where the similarities ended. Sly Fox had a shock of red hair and appeared to act on instinct more often than not, while Steel Hand had short black hair and was more rational in his thought processes, though it was obvious that if push came to shove, he would prove a force to be reckoned with. For his part, Sean didn't reveal a great deal about himself, since he didn't know how they would react to his abilities.  
  
"What have I gotten myself into?" Sean thought as he noticed the weapons that each Kai monk had with him. Sly Fox had a western style longsword, while Steel Hand had a staff. It seemed that wherever they were originally headed, they were prepared to defend themselves--just in case. "Something tells me this place isn't as peaceful as I would like."  
  
A half hour went by with the two natives giving Sean a little rundown of what they were. Apparently, the Kai is a group of warrior lords bent on protecting the countryside from evil forces--especially one in particular that resided far to the west called the Darklords. Centuries--or perhaps even millennia ago, this evil empire waged war against their country, but were eventually defeated; an ever-lasting grudge has been held against them ever since.  
  
"I guess that explains the weapons," Sean said.  
  
"Yes," Steel Hand said, nodding his head. "The Darklords could strike again at any time, and we must be ready to receive them."  
  
"Well, here we are," Sly Fox said when they got to the edge of the forest.  
  
"Wow," Sean said. The structure before him looked more like a castle than a temple. The group continued on until they reached the front gate, where a member of the Kai was standing guard, wielding a spear. The watch didn't bar their path or anything, but give Sean a somewhat wary glance as he went by.  
  
Sean looked on in wonder as the two Lords led him through the training grounds. Not only were they practicing direct combat, but also other tactics, such as healing wounds and the like. He could almost swear he saw a couple of them performing small feats of telekinesis.  
  
"Hello, Sly Fox, Steel Hand," someone said, snapping Sean out of his thoughts.  
  
"Greetings, Master Storm Hawk," the two said in unison, each placing their right hand across their chest. Sean assumed this was their salute.  
  
"Who is this with you?" Storm Hawk asked.  
  
"Someone we found in the woods," Steel Hand said. "Do you know where Grand Master Lone Wolf is, by any chance?"  
  
"He is in the main building," Storm Hawk said. "Why do you need to speak with him? You know you shouldn't bother him with petty things."  
  
"Indeed, Master," Sly Fox said. "but I believe he will be interested in what we have to say."  
  
"If you think it is worth his time, then go ahead."  
  
"With a name like Lone Wolf," Sean said as they walked off. "I'm not sure if he would want to see us."  
  
"My, you really aren't from around here if you have not heard of the legendary Lone Wolf," Sly Fox said. "About thirty years ago, the Darklords attacked the Kai as the opening strike of a war. He was the only survivor, and that is how he got his name."  
  
"It took a long time," Steel Hand continued. "but he eventually restored the Kai to what you see before you. This was not an easy task for him by any means, as the legend says that he was no stronger than us at the time of the attack." They went on to say that there were thirty-one titles among the ranks of the Kai. The one they called Lone Wolf was the Kai Supreme Master (#31), while they were mere Initiates (#5).  
  
"Though that does not mean we are weak," Sly Fox said.  
  
"I would think not," Sean said. They walked past another training ground, and the feats he saw there were of a whole another level in comparison to the first group. One thing that caught his eye was two people who appeared to be having a staring contest, but upon further inspection, realized they were actually using mental attacks against each other. "I might actually fit in here," he thought.  
  
Eventually, they made it to the main structure, and much to Sean's surprise, they headed downstairs. He would have figured the head honcho would be at the top, but he didn't see fit to bring it up. When they reached the bottom, they found a grand set of double doors before them. Without a word, Steel Hand stepped forward and knocked a couple times.  
  
"You may enter," a voice said from within. Steel Hand pushed the door open to find a solitary man sitting in a meditative position in the middle of the room, illuminated only by the seven spheres that encircled him. From what Sean could see, he was a well-built man with medium length brown hair and broad shoulders. This got him wondering just how old he was back when he earned his name, as he couldn't have been much older than 35.  
  
"We are sorry if we have disturbed you," Steel Hand said.  
  
Lone Wolf shook his head. "I was aware of your presence long before you arrived, and I also know why you have come. It is because of this visitor you have brought before me."  
  
"Yes, Grand Master," Sly Fox said. "We found him in the forest. He has no knowledge of where he is, nor of the Kai in any way short of what we have told him while we guided him to the monastery. I figured that if anyone would be able to find out where he is from and get him back there, it would be you."  
  
The Kai Supreme Master appeared to consider his lesser's words, then nodded his head. "You did well by bringing him to me. You may take your leave now, as I wish to speak with him in private."  
  
The two young Lords saluted, then went back the way they came, leaving Sean not knowing what to say or do at this point. Luckily, the decision was made for him. "Come," Lone Wolf said. "Have a seat." Reluctantly, Sean walked in, closing the door behind him, and sat down within the circle of spheres in braziers a couple feet in front of the Grand Master.  
  
"Um," Sean said nervously. "If I have somehow done something I shouldn't have, I--"  
  
"Nonsense," Lone Wolf said, cutting Sean off at the pass. "I only want to talk to you." He would pause a bit until Sean was a bit more at ease before continuing. "Sly Fox and Steel hand are good men with potential for greatness, but they are still young and naïve. I however, am not. I knew of your arrival the instant it occurred and I am also aware of the power you wield within you."  
  
Sean blinked a couple times in surprise. "You do?"  
  
"Yes. In fact, the guard you passed at the front gates and Storm Hawk also know of your magical abilities. They assume you are merely a visitor from the magician's guild in Toran, fifty miles to the north, but I know that you are not even from this world."  
  
"I figured as much," Sean said. "Though I should be relieved that magic exists in this world, as I was worried what would happen should anyone find out what I'm capable of. That's why I didn't tell Sly Fox and Steel Hand about it."  
  
"Completely understandable."  
  
"Despite this, it doesn't help me find a way back home. I can only imagine what my friends will do if they find me missing."  
  
"Yes, this is a problem, as most Shadow Gates tend to be one-way."  
  
"Yeah, especially considering where it was located in my world."  
  
"I beg your pardon?" Lone Wolf asked. Sean then proceeded to relate how he happened upon the secret passage and where it led him. "My, you must be powerful if you can withstand a fall like that and not be harmed."  
  
"Well, spells of protection and healing are sort of my specialty."  
  
"Are there others in your world like you?"  
  
"Where I'm from, wizardry is a very rare thing and is kept out of the public eye. My world as a whole lacks the understanding for it and would most likely react negatively if anyone were to witness such acts, usually saving talk of wizards for tales of fantasy about worlds similar to this one." The sound of Sean's grumbling stomach interrupted his explanation.  
  
Lone Wolf chuckled a bit. "Come," he said, standing up. "We shall continue this at another time." He started to make his way to the door and motioned for Sean to do the same.  
  
"Hold on just a sec," Sean said. With a wave of his hand, his regular clothing was replaced by a sky blue robe. Lone Wolf nodded approvingly at this, as he knew right away that Sean intended to appear less conspicuous. Plus, this new outfit bore a striking resemblance to that of the Brotherhood of the Crystal Star, the magician's guild the Grand Master made mention of earlier.  
  
With hardly a word spoken between the two, Lone Wolf lead Sean upstairs to ground level and then some until they reached an exquisite dining hall. Upon arrival, he sent the cook off to prepare a meal for them. Unlike the privacy of the meditation chamber, this room was a bustle of activity with Kai Lords coming and going with news from lands far and near. While all this was going on, many a curious glance was made in Sean's general direction, but Lone Wolf merely stated that he was from Toran on business, but on a couple occasions, Sean couldn't shake the feeling that more was actually said than what could be picked up with layman senses.  
  
After the meal was complete, Sean was allowed to observe some of the Magnakai classes (Ranks 10-18). Out of everything he has seen up to this point, it was the ability to use mental attacks and the protection against such techniques that interested him the most. Granted, there was no shortage of amazing feats being performed before his very eyes, but this was one of the few things that he found himself unable to recreate in some way, shape or form.  
  
All of a sudden, an alarm bell started to ring and everyone sprang into action, apparently knowing exactly what to do. Sean tried to ask what was going on, but everyone was in too big of a hurry to oblige him, so he decided to find out for himself. Teleporting into a watchtower, he looked down to find a massive army making its way through the forest, heading in the direction of the monastery. "These must be the Darklords," he thought. Among the ranks of the evil army were humans, goblins, and others things that defied description. Looking up, he found more of them riding strange looking birds. "Damn, these guys don't mess around, do they?" He glanced around to find a weapons rack with a few swords on it. "Mind if I borrow one of these?"  
  
"Go ahead." The Kai Lord currently stationed in that particular tower wasn't all that fazed by Sean's sudden appearance. He wielded a bow ready to fire as soon as he got a clear shot. If all went well, he wouldn't need anything else. A look of curiosity appeared on his face when Sean climbed up onto the window sill, tucking his sword into the belt of his robe as he did so. "What are you going to do?" he asked.  
  
"You'll see," Sean replied.  
  
---  
  
Lone Wolf was making his way towards the front lines when he noticed something rising into the sky. Upon focusing his vision, he saw just what it was; or rather, who it was. "Sean, what are you doing?" he called out telepathically.  
  
Due to the urgency of the situation, Sean didn't bother to ask how he did that, but responded in kind. "I'm not going to just stand around while evil forces are attacking us!"  
  
"But how are you going to fight beings you know nothing about?"  
  
"Considering what I've had to face back home, beating these things shouldn't be too hard."  
  
Lone Wolf looked on as Sean glowed bright blue for a moment, then fly off in the direction of the oncoming Darklord airborne division. "I hope he knows what he's doing," he thought.  
  
---  
  
The person at the head of the Darklord fleet couldn't help but laugh when he saw the lone figure coming towards them. In a mocking tone, he said something in a strange language to a couple of his subordinates, causing them to laugh as well. After a few moments, a single rider was sent over to take care of the pest.  
  
Meanwhile, on the other end, Sean was not surprised to find his opponents not taking him seriously. In fact, he had counted on that very thing to gain an early advantage. As the spear-carrying warrior got closer, Sean quickly worked out a plan in his head. He saw his adversary level his weapon at him with the intention of making the battle end quickly, but for him, it could definitely have turned out better. Effortlessly, Sean avoided being impaled, grabbed the spear and yanked it out of the previous owner's grasp before he could retrieve it. Getting right in the man's face, Sean smiled that evil smile of his before sending his new weapon through the bird's neck.  
  
A look of shock appeared on the squad leader's face as he watched the steed plummet to the ground, taking its rider with it. He never would have expected to see someone under his command be made a fool of so handedly by some unknown upstart now looking right at him and waving. Shock quickly turned to hatred and he barked out an order, sending two more soldiers to deal with the nuisance, but they hardly got out of formation before each one was struck down by an arrow of light, one through the heart, one between the eyes.  
  
---  
  
Lone Wolf watched as Sean easily defeated his first three opponents. "Well, he is certainly making his presence felt," he mused, knowing that Sean was in the process of making himself the single target for the entire Darklord airborne cavalry, which would only make things easier for everyone the ground, himself included. He wasn't just watching the battle unfold, as he was in the mêlée with everyone else. Without even looking, he sidestepped a goblin's attack and whacked it in the back of the neck with the hilt of his sword, killing it instantly. Even with his attention drawn towards Sean, he was still making short work of his enemies.  
  
---  
  
As more and more riders were sent against him, Sean kept picking them off one by one until the entire squadron finally moved in for an all-out attack. He knew he wouldn't be able to make enough arrows to beat all of them--or at least not before they would already be upon him, so he found himself with no other choice than to draw his sword and prepare for the coming onslaught. "How the heck did all this happen?" he thought. "Somehow, I get sucked into some alternate universe and now I'm getting ready to take on an evil army by myself. I'm so glad Shinobu's not here to see this. If these guys didn't kill me, she probably would." Strangely enough, there was a smile on his face. "Well, here goes nothing."  
  
Time seemed to slow down as the hand to hand combat got under way--or so the Darklords thought. A split-second before the first soldier was within weapon's reach, Sean disappeared, causing some muttering among the ranks. Little did they know where their target ended up until one of the stragglers felt something tapping his shoulder. Looking back, the goblin let out a yelp of surprise to find Sean right behind him.  
  
"Hello," Sean said, knowing full well that he probably couldn't understand him, as if it would matter in a few moments anyway. On instinct, the goblin swung his sword at him, but Sean blocked it with his left forearm, putting the shield spell he cast at the very start to some good use. The victim was so shocked by this, he was left completely vulnerable, allowing Sean to run him through with his own blade.  
  
By now, the others were aware of Sean's location, as they heard their comrade's finals screams. Splitting into two halves, they circled around, intending on trapping Sean between them. "Great," Sean muttered. "Now what do I do?"  
  
---  
  
Without the air force to aid them, the ground battle quickly turned into a rout, forcing the Darklords to retreat. The entire time, Lone Wolf's eyes were fixed on Sean's battle, and now that their fight was pretty much over, other Kai Lords joined him, including one in particular who just so happened to be standing nearby. "Is that Sean up there?!" Steel hand asked.  
  
"Indeed it is," Lone Wolf said.  
  
"Is he crazy?! Facing that many foes at once will only get him killed! Are you not going to do something to help him?!"  
  
"If it is needed, I will intervene, but I wish to see what this man is truly capable of."  
  
Steel Hand looked at Lone Wolf, then skyward, making an almost silent prayer to their god to protect Sean.  
  
---  
  
"I can't let it go on this way for too long," Sean thought. "I'll never last if I waste time killing these things one at a time. I need to start getting rid of them in bunches." All of a sudden, he realized the fatal flaw in the maneuver being employed against him, and he'd be damned--literally--if he wasn't going to take advantage of it. He began making preparations, almost paying no heed to the oncoming hordes.  
  
The enemy leader started yelling something along the lines of not giving any mercy or some such nonsense as he led the charge, spear in hand and ready to impale the irritating wizard, but when contact was supposed to be made, the weapon passed harmlessly through Sean and accidentally skewering his second in command on the other side.  
  
When the two halves converged, the audience below gasped, most of them knowing they couldn't survive such an attack themselves, but hearing the cries of confusion and agony told them it wasn't Sean who was suffering up there. This was confirmed when Sean appeared from within the crowd, completely unscathed, though that couldn't be said for a dozen or two Darklord cavalrymen, who were unintentionally killed by their own kind.  
  
"Well, that worked pretty well," Sean thought after he was clear of the mob. Somewhat amused, he watched the enemy try to regroup. He had a feeling they wouldn't fall for that one again, and he was proven right when they got back into formation. Instead of trying to sandwich him, they began flying circles around him, no more than three or four engaging him at any one time. Sean knew he could get out of the trap, but they would be right back on him in moments, so he didn't bother trying. Plus, his shield spell was beginning to wane; not enough to allow physical injury, but just enough to allow his opponent to slash up his robe. When it became too much of a hindrance, Sean ripped it off, revealing that he still had his regular clothes on underneath, and tossed it right in the face of an approaching goblin, distracting it just long enough to receive Sean's sword in the midsection.  
  
It was at this point that Sean's body was beginning to wear out. He knew he had to end the battle quickly if he was to live another day. Suddenly, an idea came to him, but it was one that he was reluctant to agree to at first. The last time he used what he had in mind, it caused a great deal of damage to the surrounding area, but since he was up in the air, away from buildings or anything else that would be missed, this would not be a factor. Besides, there wasn't much else he could do at this point. "C'mon," Sean muttered, now settled on a final plan of attack. "Just a little closer…"  
  
To say that the Kai watching from ground level were caught off guard would have been an understatement, as seeing the giant fireball appear out of nowhere was definitely not something to be expected. "SEAN!!" Steel Hand yelled, knowing that the newcomer was right in the middle of the blast.  
  
"It seems he wished to go out in a blaze of glory," Lone Wolf mused, but any plans for a memorial service was cut short when he saw something appear out of the bottom of the fireball. Instantly, he recognized who it was, but his hopes began to sink when he realized that Sean was plummeting towards the ground headfirst. Without giving it a second thought, he broke out into a run for where the point of impact would have been and made the easy catch.  
  
"Is he alright?" Storm Hawk asked, running up to them.  
  
A quick inspection provided the answer, and Lone Wolf started to smile. "He will be just fine; he just gave that last attack everything he had." He spared a glance upward, where the flaming sphere was dissipating; it soon became apparent that Sean was the only survivor. "Against overwhelming odds, he was victorious. He has truly earned my respect this day." He looked at the unconscious man in his arms, considering the next course of action…  
  
---  
  
"Sean?" The voice sounded distant and indistinct, yet vaguely familiar. "Sean, are you awake?" The only response the voice got was an incomprehensible murmuring. Of course, that was until Sean felt a sharp pain in his stomach.  
  
"OW!" Sean yelled. "Who--" He opened his eyes to find Sarah standing next to him, her arms crossed and that angry expression she usually had when the two were in the same room. "Figures." Sitting up and looking around, he quickly realized that he was in the living room of Hinata-Sou. "Hey, how did I get back here?"  
  
"What are you talking about?" Naru asked. "We found you in here when we got home from school, fast asleep."  
  
"Oh, man," Sean muttered, placing a hand to his head. "That whole thing was just a dream?"  
  
"Are you alright?" Shinobu asked.  
  
"Yeah, I'm fine," Sean said. "It just felt so real, that's all."  
  
"What was it about?" Keitaro asked.  
  
"I'll tell y'all later, but first I need some time to sort things out." Sean soon found himself alone in the living room. "I just can't believe it," he thought. "How could all that have been a dream?" He rested his head back onto the pillow and heard a strange noise. He reached underneath it and retrieved a rolled up piece of paper. "What's this?" He unrolled it to find that it was a letter written in what appeared to be old style English lettering:  
  
"Dear Sean,  
  
Congratulations or your victory. Your efforts in our battle against the Darklords will not be soon forgotten. My only regret is that you were not awake for me to thank you in person, but finding a way to return you to your native plane was of greater importance. Always remember that you will always be welcome among the Kai; the keepsake I left with you should help achieve this.  
  
Until our paths cross again,  
  
Lone Wolf  
  
Kai Supreme Master"  
  
At first, Sean was confused by that last part, but something caught his eye. Sticking his hand in between the couch cushions, he was shocked to find a sword hidden there. However, this was not just any sword, but the very same one he, along with his magic, used to spill the blood of many a Darklord warrior. "Um…" Sean thought after a few moments with a complete lack of brain activity. "Something tells me I shouldn't tell Shinobu about this."  
  
End of Chapter LVI  
  
Well, that was certainly something, huh? I knew I had to bring up the secret passages eventually, but the hard part was figuring out where to go from there. For anyone who actually recognized where I got this from, I own no rights to Lone Wolf. See you next time--whenever that is. Please R&R! 


	60. Ch57: When Hormones Attack

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH, but the OCs are mine.

Yeah, yeah, long wait for an update, blah blah blah. It wasn't that I didn't know what to write--heck, I knew what was going to happen months in advance--I just find it hard at times to sit still long enough to actually get anything typed. Anyway, the result is the biggest chapter up to this point, second only to Requests and Reconnaissance(Ch49), so it might be worth the wait, especially for those of you who--you know, just read the title and you'll know what I'm talking about. Enjoy!

Chapter LVII: When Hormones Attack 

Tuesday, 9/29 6:12 AM

Stephanie laid out on her bed, remote in hand, channel surfing; the look of boredom was apparent on her face. "One would think I'd be used to this by now," she said with a sigh. "Tuesday mornings are so slow; always have been." The television in her room was not like your everyday TV, as it broadcasted the lives of many couples around the world. Granted, in some places it was Monday evening or even early afternoon, but her point was still valid.

After clicking past a few Hollywood couples that never should have been on her cable plan to begin with, the screen displayed a scene she had become very familiar with lately. "Hmm," she muttered as she watched Sean sleep soundly in his room, but her attention was drawn to the icon at the upper right corner of the screen that signified that he was currently in a dream. "Eh, why not?" she said, pressing a button on her remote. The perspective zoomed in on Sean's forehead until she found herself watching Sean's dream as it happened. Luckily, it was just getting underway, but she would have been able to see it in its entirety regardless. Who needs TiVo when you're a goddess?

---

"It's so beautiful," Shinobu said; she appeared roughly 19 in this dream.

"I suppose," Sean said as the two watched the sunrise from the roof platform. "Maybe if you're into that sort of thing. Me? I prefer something I can look at all day long and not risk going blind from it."

Shinobu knew exactly what Sean meant by that. She didn't know if she would ever get tired of him always complimenting her looks--it's better than the alternative. "I love you," she said, wrapping an arm around Sean's waist and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Me too," Sean said, moving his own arm in a similar fashion. Time seemed to stand still as the couple just stood there at the rail, watching the sun come up. The only thing that brought them back down to reality was Sean feeling something hit the top of his head. "Hmm?" he muttered, looking up.

"What's going on?" Shinobu asked.

"Looks like Mother Nature has other plans for us this morning," Sean said, still gazing up at the storm clouds that had crept up behind them.

"At least it hasn't spoiled the view," Shinobu said.

"You got that right," Sean said. Of course, he wasn't looking at the clouds nor the sun at this point. Before more could be said, he drew her into a passionate kiss. For them, it seemed to last forever, their tongues intertwined and their arms wrapped around each other. By the time they came up for air, the slight drizzle had turned into a downpour. "Good thing we came up here in our PJs, huh?"

"Mmm hmm," Shinobu said as she felt Sean's hands running up and down her sides through the nightgown that now clung to her skin. She caught them when they got to her shoulders and reached for the straps. "What if someone sees us?" she asked, it being her only concern at this point. Otherwise, she wouldn't have stopped him.

"I doubt anyone would come out here in weather like this just to watch us," Sean reasoned. "Though if someone did go to all that trouble, it would be rude to disappoint them, wouldn't it?"

"Damn straight!" Stephanie said.

Anyone who knew her would know that "exhibitionist" wasn't exactly a word that described Shinobu very well, but at that moment, in the loving hands of her one and only since adolescence, she wouldn't care if the whole world was watching. "Then let's make sure we don't," she said, letting go of Sean's hands.

"I'll do my best," Sean said before leaning in for another kiss. Elsewhere, his fingers hooked underneath the straps of Shinobu's now utterly soaked nightgown and began to slowly move them off her shoulders.

Shinobu moaned slightly into Sean's mouth as he peeled the garment off her, letting it pool at her feet. Now clad only in her panties, she could feel every drop of rain that hit her body. Unfortunately, reality would come flooding back to her when Sean ended the kiss. When she opened her eyes--only realizing then that she had closed them in the first place--all she saw in front of her was the falling rain. She was about to say something when she felt Sean's lips on the crook of her neck and his hands roaming her body once again.

Hearing Shinobu start to moan only encouraged Sean further. Teasingly, he slid his hands up Shinobu's side, eventually reaching her breasts. A gasp rang out as he began to gently squeeze them. "Oh, Sean," Shinobu sighed, now thoroughly enjoying herself. This would go on for an undetermined amount of time (who the hell would actually keep track?!) before Sean redirected his efforts southward, causing Shinobu's moans to start increasing in volume and pitch when his hand stroked her most private area through her underwear.

Eventually, Sean decided to stop being such a tease. Going down on one knee, he slowly removed Shinobu's last line of defense. By the time he stood back up, she had turned around to face him, stepping out of the pile of clothes in the process. She had a lustful and mischievous look in her eye--if that was what you were looking at. "My turn," she said.

One by one, Shinobu removed articles of clothing from Sean's body. Afterwards, they looked at each other for just a brief moment before they came together in a tight embrace, kissing like there was no tomorrow, pressing their hot, wet (in more ways than one) bodies in an effort to get as much contact with the other's flesh as humanly possible. Both of them had the same thing in mind and they weren't about to let anything or anyone stop them; thunderstorms be damned.

---

Stephanie looked on as the couple made passionate love on the roof, masturbating all the while. Her moans radiated throughout the room along with her scent as she made long strides towards that one final destination. She didn't care if any of the other goddess heard her, as they knew what she usually did in her spare time anyway and never interrupted her unless they wanted to join in. That didn't happen this time, but to the goddess of love, it was of no consequence.

Her hands seemed to work completely on their own accord, as if they knew exactly where to go and what to do in order to provide the most pleasurable experience. Considering who she was and how long she's been in existence, that shouldn't be a surprise in any sense of the word. It didn't take all that long for her stimulation to provide results, as an orgasm washed over her body--along with a portion of her bed sheets.

"Oh, man," she sighed as her body relaxed. "That's the stuff." A quick glance back to the television showed that Sean's dream was beginning to wind down as well. "I can always rely on him to spice up a dull morning." Of course, while it was entertainment for one, it was torture for another.

--- 8:15 AM

Sean stirred slightly from his sleep, but his body was hesitant to get out of bed. The dream he had had only a couple hours ago wasn't one that was easily forgotten and it had the usual response. Part of him wanted to give in and satisfy the need slowly growing inside him, but another part knew that the privacy he would have required wasn't easily attained at Hinata-Sou.

This was not the first time he has had conflicting emotions in the mornings, as he has had quite a few dreams featuring him and Shinobu consummating their relationship. Up to this point, all of them have been unique, involving a wide range of times, locations and, in this case, weather conditions. The only constant theme in all of them was that Shinobu was between 18 and 20 years old, putting any possible allegations of pedophilia, had there been any, to rest.

As always, logic won the day, forcing Sean out of bed before anything happened. Muttering something incomprehensibly, he got dressed and went downstairs where he found Kitsune watching television, sake bottle in hand. "Morning, hon," she said.

"Morning," Sean replied unenthusiastically.

"Huh, somebody woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Kitsune said. "You know, you should at least try to make it to breakfast more often. It's been a while since anybody's seen you before they head off for school."

"I know."

"Hey, what's up with you lately? Is something going on that I should know about?"

"No."

Before Kitsune could continue the inquisition, Sean disappeared into the kitchen where, no doubt, Shinobu had something prepared for him. There was a look of curiosity on her face for a few moments before she shrugged her shoulders and turned back to the TV, taking a swig of alcohol as she did so.

---

From the moment Sean became a part of her life, Shinobu started to become more sure of herself, quickly translating into better grades in school. She would not consider herself an honor student like Naru, but she was more than happy with the improvement. Now, she finds herself a freshman at the same high school as Suu (sophomore) and Motoko (senior). More often than not, she would spend her lunchtime with said girls to chat about various subjects--school related and otherwise. Today would be no different, but this time around, there would be something extra added to the mix; something that would have a lasting effect.

--- 12:01 PM

"Hey guys!" Shinobu said cheerfully as she sat down at what had quickly become her usual table.

"Hi, Shinobu!" Suu said between bites.

"Hello, Shinobu," Motoko said. "What do you think of high school so far?"

"It's fine," Shinobu said. "Other than having to go to a different building, it's not that different."

"That's good," Motoko said.

"I like the food," Suu said. "A bit bland, maybe, bit still--"

"Hey, Shinobu!" another girl said, taking a seat at the other side of the table.

"Hi Akiko," Shinobu said upon seeing her friend from back in junior high. "It's been a while. How have you been?"

"Pretty good," Akiko said. "But I can't wait till I'm out of this place."

"Why is that?" Motoko said.

"Shinobu's not the only one with a special someone waiting for her."

"When did you get a boyfriend?" Shinobu asked.

"About seven months ago," Akiko said. "I can't believe I never told you that."

"It's nice to have someone with similar interests," Motoko said, obviously referring to Jimmy.

"Yeah, no kidding," Akiko said. "Though our interests may not be what you were thinking."

"What do you mean by that?" Shinobu asked.

"Oh, come on," Akiko said, her voice becoming somewhat hushed. "Don't tell me you and your boyfriend haven't gone all the way yet."

"NO!" Shinobu said, louder than necessary. A deep blush instantly appeared on her face when she saw everyone in the room looking at her. "I--I mean, we haven't done anything like that."

"Oh man, you don't know what you're missing."

"That's what you think," Shinobu thought.

"One should not succumb to peer pressure," Motoko said, seemingly unaffected by the conversation happening around her. "A girl should only engage in sex when she is ready to receive it."

"That may work in theory," Akiko said. "But what about Shinobu's boyfriend? There's no telling what he might be going through--especially considering who he lives with."

"Sean has shown a strength of will the likes of which I have never seen in a man," Motoko said. "If there is anyone who can resist temptation, it would be him. He has proven this many times already."

"That may be," Akiko said. "But there's no telling just how long his 'strength of will' will last. You better watch yourself, Shinobu, cuz eventually, he might just pull you to the ground and have his way with you."

Shinobu quickly shook her head. "You're wrong. He would never force himself on me like that; it doesn't matter what he might be going through."

"If you're so sure of that, then what do you think he would do?"

That caught Shinobu partially by surprise, as she had never really thought about such things that often, but now that the question had been brought up, she let her mind wander down that path. "Well," she began. "First, he would take his time. No matter how horny or aroused he may be, he would make absolutely sure that I was enjoying myself. Slowly, his hands would roam across my body as though they had a mind of their own and knew exactly where to go. Time seems to slow down as he makes me feel a euphoria like I never thought possible. Just when I think things can't get any better, he--"

Her explanation/fantasy would be cut short by the ringing of the school bell. "Oh, darn," Akiko said. "And it was just getting to the good part, too. Well, I'll see you later, alright?"

"Um, yeah," Shinobu said, feeling somewhat awkward about what just happened.

"Are you alright?" Motoko asked.

"Yeah, I'm… fine," Shinobu said with hardly any conviction whatsoever. "I'll see you after class."

Motoko watched Shinobu walk off, the look on her face appeared as though she was seeing something out of the ordinary. "I wonder…" she thought.

The rest of the school day would pass by without a hitch for most of the student body, but for Shinobu, it was far from easy. When her fantasy was interrupted during lunch, she had no choice but to keep it contained, but with nowhere for it to go, she found it harder and harder to keep those thoughts from coming to the surface. More fantasies would play themselves out in her mind that, unbeknownst to her, held a strange similarity to some of Sean's more recent dreams.

The physical effects of all this were recognized in an instant, but all that did was make things more difficult for her. Granted, this wasn't the first time she has felt feelings of arousal, but the one other time occurred over one and a half years before and was an isolated incident of her own design. Being in a public setting didn't help matters any, either. For her, it felt as though embarrassment the likes of which she has never known was looming over her head, just waiting for the chance to make her life a living hell.

If the school day itself was torture, the train ride home was more like a public execution. Her train of thought had deviated very little and at this point, a new car has been added. Paranoia fully setting in, her eyes darted every which way. She felt like everyone aboard was staring at her, judging her as though they could read her perverted thoughts.

For her, the train couldn't get to her stop soon enough. Trying to look cool, calm and collected, she got off and started to trek back home. Just as she was about to begin ascending the front steps, she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch. She quickly turned around and was somewhat relieved when she saw who it was. "Oh, it's you," she said. "You scared me for a second there."

Motoko watched Suu almost fly by before she spoke. "Is there something wrong?" she asked.

"Uh, no, of course not," Shinobu said nervously. "Why would there be anything wrong?"

"There is no point in lying to me, Shinobu" Motoko said. "I can see it in your aura."

"It was worth a try," Shinobu thought. "You remember that conversation we had with my friend during lunch, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, since then, I haven't been able to get those kind of thoughts out of my head."

Motoko nodded her head knowingly. "I completely understand how that can make someone very self-conscious and paranoid, as I have gone through the exact same thing myself."

"How did you deal with it?"

"You know well enough what I did," Motoko said. Shinobu simply nodded. "Let me give you a couple words of advice," Motoko continued. "Try not to hold your hormones back for too long. I experienced this first hand and it was definitely not something I would wish to go through again. Kitsune underwent the same thing, though from what I am told, it was not by choice. The last thing I want to see is you putting yourself through such torture, so I suggest you nip this in the bud pretty quickly before too long."

It was at this point that the two girls reached the top of the steps. "Motoko's right," Shinobu thought. "Something has to be done--and I know exactly what that something is." They entered the dorm and were about to go their own separate ways when they spotted Naru leaving the kitchen, bringing a snack with her.

"Hey," Naru said. "How was your day?"

"It was… interesting," Motoko said, her attention somewhat drawn to the young sorceress next to her. While she wasn't showing any outward signs in that regard, Motoko easily noticed the slight energy output Shinobu was giving off. As though she was confirming her suspicions or something, Shinobu nodded her head and quickly left the room.

"What up with her?" Naru asked, as she was completely in the dark about what just occurred.

"It seems Shinobu is growing into a young woman," Motoko said, mentally making assumptions about what Shinobu had done.

Naru gave the swordswoman a strange look. "Again?"

---

Meanwhile, Alicia was lounging in the hot springs, using this time to leave her thoughts completely blank. Her mind was so far gone, she didn't realize the door had opened and another girl had entered until she heard a voice in her ear.

"I had a feeling you were in here," the voice whispered.

Startled, Alicia turned around to find Kitsune there, the usual grin on her face. "You know I don't like you sneaking up on me like that," she said.

"It's your own fault for not paying attention to your surroundings," Kitsune said as she sat down beside Alicia.

"Mm hmm," Alicia said.

"Well, someone's real cheerful today," Kitsune muttered. "What's up with you lately?"

"Nothing that concerns you," Alicia said flatly.

"Don't be like that," Kitsune said. "You know you can tell me anything."

"If I wanted to, I would have."

"True, but I have ways of making you talk."

Alicia rolled her eyes. "What else is new?"

Kitsune started giggling internally. "This should be fun," she thought. "Hmm, I haven't done that in a while. Ah, what the heck; I'll give it a shot."

"What the--?" Alicia thought when she felt Kitsune put a hand on her knee. Moments later, it trailed up her leg, coming dangerously close to some pretty sensitive areas. "Oh, of all things she could have done…" she started to think, but then let the sentence die there.

Kitsune was now giggling out loud as she watched her subject start to fidget. "Like I said," she said, barely above a whisper. "I have ways of making you talk, and if it means going back to my old forms of torture, then so be it." Little did she know just how close she had gotten to the answer she was seeking.

"Some torture," Alicia said, somehow able to keep her voice from wavering as Kitsune gently squeezed her inner thigh. "All I have to do is keep my mouth shut long enough to--"

"Ah ah ah," Kitsune interrupted, waving a finger in Alicia's face (using the hand not occupied, of course). "If you think I'm going to let something like that happen, you're sadly mistaken."

"Oh, you are so evil," Alicia said, her voice sounding more like a whine than was originally intended.

"I know," Kitsune said, her grin getting bigger and more sinister. However, much to Kitsune's chagrin, luck and timing would play out in her victim's favor.

The door to the hot springs opened and Shinobu stepped out, a towel wrapped around her. From her perspective, she was unable to see exactly what Kitsune was doing. "Hello Sean, hello Kitsune," she said.

Instantly, Kitsune stopped her actions and turned to face the newcomer. "Hey, Shinobu. When did you get back?"

"Just now," Shinobu said. "May I have a talk with Sean…alone?"

"Of course," Kitsune said. Before getting up, she switched her gaze back to Alicia. "I'll be back for you later," she whispered.

"Oh joy," Alicia thought, dreading however long she would keep her in agony the next time they were alone together. Eventually, Shinobu replaced Kitsune by her side. "How was school?"

"One I won't forget for a long time," Shinobu said, her face already turning pink.

"Really?" Alicia asked. "What happened?"

"There's something I need to tell you first,"

"Uh, sure," Alicia said, intrigued by the sense of urgency Shinobu possessed. "What is it?"

"I'm ready,"

"Um…" Alicia said, mystified by Shinobu cryptic message. "Ready for what?" The answer was given to her when, without warning, Shinobu kissed her. When she recovered from the shock of the girl's--or rather, young woman's unexpected actions, not to mention how passionate she was in doing so, Alicia began returning the favor.

When they eventually came up for air, Alicia quickly noticed the strange smile on Shinobu's face. "Figured it out yet?" she asked.

"Yeah, I think so," Alicia responded. "But are you sure you're ready for this? I mean, I wouldn't want you to jump the gun or anything."

"I've never been more sure of anything in my life. I want our relationship to go to the next level--and not just for one day this time."

By this time, fanfare was blaring in Alicia's head, as though some unknown prayer had just been granted. "Then I suppose the time for talking is over," she said, moving in for another kiss shortly thereafter, this one gentler than the first.

At this point, Shinobu began making an active effort to keep her mind blank in order to prevent her own thoughts from ruining this perfect moment and what was going to follow. The signals her brain received were those of their tongues dancing around each other, one hand placed at the back of her head and the other roaming up and down her back. Without thinking, she wrapped her arms around Alicia, making even more points of contact between their bodies.

All of a sudden, Shinobu felt a rather strange sensation quickly run down her spine. With a gasp, she separated herself from Alicia and was about to say something when she noticed that in the other girl's hand was the towel that was on her body just moments before--and also that there were faint burn marks where it had obviously been cut into two pieces. "Why did you--"

"Well," Alicia said, knowing what Shinobu was going to ask. "I couldn't very well do what you want me to do while wearing this, now could I?"

Shinobu would only contemplate Alicia's logic for a few moments before she picked up right where they left off; this time, without that one piece of cloth that had come between them before. Slowly, Alicia circled around Shinobu, trailing kisses along the inner edge of her shoulder blades until she was completely behind her. From there, her hands blazed a trail up Shinobu's sides until they reached her chest. Shinobu's breasts were still small, but they seemed to fit perfectly with the rest of her body. Besides, it wasn't like it meant they were any less sensitive to touch, which Shinobu was about to find out first hand.

Shinobu gave a light sigh as she leaned back into Alicia and let her work her magic--no pun intended. "This is just like I had imagined," she thought. "Well, there was one thing different…" She would blush a bit at that last part, but it went unnoticed. Regardless of the circumstances, she was glad to be intimate with the one she loved with all her heart.

While Shinobu was enjoying herself, Alicia was a whole different story altogether. What Kitsune had done--or at least what she was in the process of doing--sparked a certain chain of events within her, and having her breasts pressed up against Shinobu's upper back was only moving her along further. It came to the point where she had to make a conscious effort to control her breathing, letting her hands pretty much go on autopilot.

"Oh, God," Alicia thought. "I want her so badly right now, but she came to me first. I can't stop until she's satisfied." Of course, depending on how long that would take, it might be easily said than done. Therefore, a tad more assertiveness was called for. She turned back around to the front of Shinobu, only making a brief pause in her fondling as she did so. "Are you liking this so far?" she asked.

"Oh, am I ever," Shinobu replied, her eyes barely open.

"That's all I wanted to hear," Alicia said, her lips made contact with Shinobu's for a couple quick kisses before moving her mouth downward. While she was doing this, she freed one of her hands and moved it around to Shinobu's back to brace it as she leaned her back a bit.

It would not take long for Alicia's mouth to reach the breast that her hand had just recently vacated, forcing a gasp from Shinobu. Letting her bodily instincts guide her, she wrapped her legs around Alicia's waist. "Oh, Sean…" she moaned, placing her hands on the back of Alicia's head; all her actions up to this point in an effort to increase the pleasurable sensations currently rippling through her.

"Looks like it's time to take things one step further," Alicia thought, her motives--at least in part--being that the sooner she brings Shinobu to ecstasy, the sooner she can return the favor. Standing up, she carried Shinobu a short ways before setting her down at the edge, her feet dangling in the water. The blue-haired adolescent might have asked why Alicia did this, but in her current situation, she has had some difficulty in maintaining rational thought, not that it was something worth complaining about in the least.

Just when she thought things just couldn't get any better, everything just--for lack of a better word--stopped. A disappointed groan coming from her lips, she looked down to see what was causing the delay. What she found was Alicia grinning at her as she used her newly freed hands to remove Shinobu's legs from around her waist, placing herself between them to keep them separated. Before Shinobu could say anything, she felt Alicia resume her ministrations; this time, lightly kissing her way down her body until she reached what was most likely the most sensitive place on it.

To say that Shinobu was pleasantly surprised would have done her a hint of justice. The things Alicia was doing to her privates were like nothing she had ever experienced before. Well, perhaps that wasn't entirely accurate, but only for reasons that have already been mentioned and will not be repeated. Her moans grew louder as she drew closer and closer to that one all-important conclusion that had been the focal point of her mind since lunch.

On the other end, Alicia's torture only seemed to get worse, what with all five now under a merciless assault. Her arousal quickly become sexual frustration when she felt a pounding in her crotch that was almost to the point of being painful. For her, it wasn't if her hormones would take over, but when. She could only hope that her strength of will would be able to keep her libido at bay long enough. Fortunately for her, her efforts would not be in vain.

"Oh, Sean…!" Shinobu moaned, her thighs now clamped tightly around Alicia's head. She arched her back and tried to move her hips as well, but considering her seated position and the fact that Alicia had a--shall we say--tight grip on the situation, this wasn't possible. This would be of little consequence as her body tensed up and all the pressure that had been building up to that point was released all at once amid sighs and groans.

When she was aware or your surroundings again, releasing a breath she didn't know she was holding, she found herself looking right into the blue eyes of the one who rose her to such wonderful heights. "Thank you so much," she said.

"Oh, we're not done quite yet, my dear," Alicia said.

"What do you mean?" Shinobu asked.

"I mean how you must have felt before all this doesn't even compare to how I feel right now." Alicia's voice started to become less sultry and more desperate. "It feels like a forest fire down there."

Driven more by curiosity than anything else, Shinobu moved a hand towards the other girl's crotch. Even without making contact, she could feel the heat radiating from it, realizing that the comparison was more accurate than she would have originally given Alicia credit for.

"Shinobu…" Alicia said, bringing Shinobu back to the matter at hand. "Please, don't tease."

Never one to wish any sort of discomfort on anyone, Shinobu did the one thing she knew would bring relief. As soon as her hand touched Alicia's groin, she spasmed a bit as the flood gates were opened, but it wasn't quite enough. Acting totally on her body's need for release, Alicia grinded herself against Shinobu's hand for what must have felt like an eternity until the dam finally burst. If Shinobu's orgasm was like a wave rushing through her, Alicia's was more like a detonating hydrogen bomb, and she reacted as such…

---

When Kitsune left the hot spring, she left the door open just a crack in order to see what was going on--which became pretty obvious very quickly. "So she's finally coming of age," she thought; the play on words was not lost on her. "Good for her." Fully closing the door, she walked over to the makeup table to freshen up and was about to get dressed when she heard a somewhat familiar cry of joy coming from the hot spring. "And there she goes," she thought with a grin. "She's lucky to have a guy like him. I suppose we all are."

Knowing what had just transpired was kind of a turn on, but Kitsune pushed those thoughts aside for the time being as she got dressed and was just leaving the changing room when she heard the most ungodly shriek. "Damn," Kitsune said, turning towards the door to the hot spring. "Was that Sean?! What in the hell could have made him scream like that?--no, it couldn't be…"

She wouldn't have any more time to think about it, as the other door sprang open, allowing the other girls and Keitaro to enter, looks of worry on all of their faces. "What happened?!" Naru asked.

"Yeah," Keitaro said. "What was that scream we just heard?"

"I think I may know," Kitsune said. "But I'm pretty sure everything's going to be fine."

"What makes you so sure?" Motoko asked.

"Because if my hunch is right, I've been through the same thing."

"Care to elaborate on that?"

"After my suspicions are confirmed," Kitsune said. "For now, let's just leave. I think Sean and Shinobu want to be alone for a little while longer."

All of a sudden, Motoko seemed to understand all sides to the story. "So Shinobu wasn't the only one after all," she thought.

---

Shinobu ran a hand through a now thoroughly exhausted Alicia's hair. "Are you going to be alright?" she asked.

"Yeah," Alicia said through short breaths. "I just need to rest a while."

"If I may ask, what caused all that?"

"Well, for a long time now, I've been having these… erotic dreams about us. Obviously, it had a certain effect on me."

"Why did you let yourself suffer like that?"

"I guess I was just waiting for this day to come. Let me tell you, it was worth the wait, but I hope I never have to go through that again."

"I'll make sure you don't," Shinobu said, kissing Alicia's forehead. "I may not be able to prevent all bad things from happening, but at least I can do that much."

"I love you, Shinobu."

"I love you, too." They would spend the next good while cuddling in each other's arms.

--- 7:12 PM

Kitsune opened Sean's door to find the landlord seated at his table using his laptop--whether he was working or playing a game, she couldn't tell. "Hey, Sean," she said.

"Yeah?" Sean asked.

"Dinner's ready."

"Thanks, I'll be down in a minute."

Kitsune remained in the doorway. "Shinobu told me everything." Sean only nodded in response. "What's up with you? It seems as though every time you have a strange or recurring dream, you go into hiding. Why don't you just--"

"Don't bother giving me a lecture," Sean interrupted. "It probably won't change anything. As the saying goes, old habits die hard."

"Yeah," Kitsune said. "I know that well enough."

"So much for you torturing the information out of me," Sean said with a grin.

"Well, if I had known what you've been putting yourself through, I probably wouldn't have done what I did--not to mention try to help you through it in my own way."

Sean rose an eyebrow. "Is there a difference?"

Kitsune laughed a bit. "I guess not. I'll see ya downstairs."

After Kitsune left, Sean sighed as he closed his computer. "Today sure turned out better than I expected it to."

---

"Dreams and fantasies are all well and good," Stephanie said. "But there's nothing quite like the real thing."

"I can certainly see why."

Startled, Stephanie turned around to see who had entered her inner sanctum without her knowing. "Oh," she said. "Hey Julie. How long were you there?"

"Long enough to know what you've been doing," Julie responded, her arms crossed.

"I'm not in trouble again, am I?" Stephanie asked, now a tad nervous.

A smile formed on Julie's face. "No, from what I saw, a little divine intervention was definitely called for, though I appreciate how you didn't make anyone aware of your presence."

"They didn't need to know I was there," Stephanie reasoned. "If they did, things probably wouldn't have gone as smoothly as they did. Besides, he has long since earned my respect and I am more than willing to help him if need be."

"Well, such a selfless act of generosity definitely deserves to be rewarded--and I think I know how to do just that." Julie would then proceed to take off all her clothes and join Stephanie in bed.

"Being a good girl sure has its benefits," Stephanie said.

"True," Julie said. "But being naughty can have its advantages as well."

"Really?" Stephanie asked, feigning innocence. "Would you like to show me how?"

---

As Amy passed by Stephanie's room, she could hear moans and sighs coming from within. "Is it just me or are we acting more and more like college coeds in recent decades?" she asked herself.

End of Chapter LVII 

So, what did y'all think? Just another perverted day at the office, I suppose. Just so you know, the next chapter might take a while to write as well, not only because I'm going on vacation for Christmas, but also that the subject for chapter 58 is the brainchild of none other than Jimmy. I haven't contacted him in quite a while and I'll have to take down notes eventually. Until then, please R&R and I'll see y'all next time--in whichever story I update first. 


	61. Ch58: Not Another Valentine's Disaster

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH, but the original characters are mine. 

Yes, yes, I know it's been a long time between new chapters, but just look at the size of this thing! Far and away the longest chapter I have ever written--and much bigger than I had originally intended. Combine this with schoolwork, and 6 more fics running through my head based on (in no particular order) Sailor Moon, Love Hina, Negima, Naruto, Ruroni Kenshin and InuYasha.

Back to business. This chapter, like Requests and Reconnaissance, has two seperate storylines. One was the brainchild of Jimmy himself, while the other is from my own mind--one that I had considered for another chapter and, considering the size, perhaps it should have stayed that way. Now, without further adieu, I bring to you:

Chapter LVIII: Not Another Valentine's Disaster

A sunrise can be a beautiful thing to behold for those who actually get up early enough to watch it happen. Of course, considering that this just so happens to be a day off for most, those who actually do that are few and far between, the rest opting to take advantage of the opportunity to sleep in. Included in that second classification is one person in particular, but his slumber is about to come to an abrupt halt.

Saturday, 2/13/2010 8:26 AM

The sound of a ringing doorbell went unheeded by Jimmy as he slept in his recliner in the living room in front of the television (which, before you jump to conclusions, does not happen too often). After a couple more attempts, the noise finally sinks in, forcing him to open his eyes. "Ugh, who could it be at this hour?" he muttered as he got up and made his way towards the door, pissed about the rude awakening.

Opening the front door, he spoke before he saw who was there--to him, it would have made no difference one way or the other. "What is it?" he asked.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tsuruko said. She was a bit taken aback at the sight of seeing Jimmy in just his boxers, but hid it flawlessly. "Did I wake you?"

"What do you think?" Even while still half-asleep, he knew there could only be one reason why the elder Aoyama sibling would come for a visit. "You here to spar?"

"Yes, but if I have come at a bad time, I can always--"

"No, that's alright," Jimmy said. "I just had a bit of a long night, that's all. Come on in."

Ever since their first encounter a year and a half ago, Tsuruko has called Jimmy every so often to arrange a training session together, but this unscheduled meeting marked the first time it was Tsuruko who made the trip. As Jimmy led her through his house, she took advantage of the opportunity to take in the décor, but a look of mild confusion appeared on her face when the tour ended in a room lined with computers and various video game systems--not the most likely place to have a swordfight. "Why did you bring me here?" she asked.

"You'll see," Jimmy said, walking over to an X-Box. Taking a nearby disk, he inserted it into the machine. Moments later, a white ring was projected onto the floor in front of it from some unknown source. "Ladies first," he said, motioning towards said ring. "I'll join you in a minute."

Tsuruko was a bit wary about following Jimmy's directions, which was understandable, as she has never witness such a thing before. Despite this, she knew that if Jimmy just so happened to be planning something underhanded, she would easily be able to hold her own. As she stepped into the circle, she was suddenly engulfed in a bright light, forcing her to shield her eyes. It would only last for a moment, but it would literally make a world of difference.

Tsuruko could only look in wonder at her new surroundings: a circular room that looked to have been carved out of the trunk of a tree. In each of five directions, an archway led outside into a forest. Each portal had it's own label: Power, Speed, Accuracy, Technique and Live Opponents. "So this is what heaven looks like," Tsuruko said to herself.

Before Tsuruko could admire the scenery any longer, Jimmy appeared next to her in a flash of light, katana in hand and still in his boxers. "Alright," he said. "Let's get this over with. I'd like to get back to sleep."

"Before we do," Tsuruko said. "Could you tell me--how should I put this?--where are we and how did you come across an… incredible place such as this?"

"For starters, we're not even on the planet Earth," Jimmy said. "I had Sean whip up this little pocket dimension for me. Motoko also has one in her room."

"Ah, yes, she once spoke to me of such a thing, but from the way she described it, I don't remember it being so… elaborate."

"I had Sean add a few things to it. It took him over a week to get everything put in." Jimmy motioned towards the passageway marked "Live Opponents". "Shall we?"

"Of course." As they made their way through the archway, Tsuruko took advantage of her opportunity to get a good look at her sparring partner in his current state of dress. "I can certainly see how Motoko would be attracted to this man," she thought. "Wow," she said when she stepped into a forest clearing. "This place is so beautiful."

"Yeah," Jimmy said. "Motoko thinks so too. We've spent a lot of time in here training together." With that, both combatants readied their respective weapons and battle commenced, but the conversation did not stop there.

"What kind of relationship do you two possess?" Tsuruko asked.

"What do you mean?" Jimmy asked.

"Well, for example, how many dates have you been on?"

"Why do you ask?"

"It's only natural for me to be curious about Motoko's affairs, me being her sister and all. Do you have an answer?"

"We've been out a few times." A sly grin formed on Jimmy's face. "Why, are you interested?"

Tsuruko was a bit put off by Jimmy's presumption--and rightly so--bit hid it well. "I am a happily married woman, thank you very much."

"I'm not hearing a no," Jimmy said, sill grinning.

"What do you think Motoko would say if she caught wind of what you speak?" Tsuruko asked, trying to keep a level head. "She would most likely come for your head."

"Don't be so sure," Jimmy said. "She has acquired more of an open mind ever since she met Sean, or so I hear." Jimmy's grin got wider. "You never know, she may even want to join us. Besides, what straight man wouldn't want to be with to be with two gorgeous sisters at once?"

"This man…" Tsuruko thought, her right eye developing a severe twitch. "He does not refer to mere dating. He intends for me to sleep with him or even have a three-some involving myself and my sister! Such impudence shall not be tolerated!"

It would not take long for Jimmy to notice the dramatic increase in the ferocity of his opponent's attacks. Despite this, he still appeared to be in complete control. "It seems I have upset you," he said. "But I think I know why. You just don't feel like sharing, do you? That's it, you want me all to yourself."

To Tsuruko, it was inconceivable as to why Jimmy was deliberately pushing her buttons like he was, but she didn't take the time to ponder it--she just wanted to shut his trap. Breaking close combat, she started sending energy waves in Jimmy's direction--not to seriously injure him mind you, just to teach him some manners.

Meanwhile, Jimmy looked unfazed by Tsuruko's change in strategy. In fact, it was something he was expecting and therefore was able to avoid them rather easily. "Oh, yeah," he thought. "She definitely upset with me."

Tsuruko didn't know what irked her more; the fact that she hadn't landed a single blow up to that point or that Jimmy had deliberately waited until the last possible moment to get out of the way. "He dares mock me!" she growled under her breath. "I'll teach him not to take me lightly!" She charged up her sword and her body did likewise in Jimmy's direction. At first, it looked as though her strike was badly mistimed, but the ki wave that followed immediately thereafter dispelled all that. Regardless, such a close range attack would be very difficult to avoid, but just when it seemed that it hit home, Jimmy vanished into thin air. "Where did he go?" Tsuruko muttered to herself, looking around for any sign of her frustrating adversary.

"Hey," Jimmy said in an almost ghostly whisper. "I'm over here." Without missing a beat, Tsuruko fired a shot in the direction of the voice, but found that space to be vacant. "No, wait, I'm over here," he said from the other direction, sparking the same set of events as before and with a similar outcome.

"Where are you!" Tsuruko demanded.

"You know," Jimmy said in his normal voice right into Tsuruko's ear. "You should really work on your aim." Tsuruko was so startled by this, she almost jumped right out of her skin. Either way, she ended up a few feet away from a now laughing Jimmy. "Is that all you got?"

"Hardly," Tsuruko said, now thoroughly pissed off. "That's it," she thought. "If this smart-ass wants me, he's going to get me--in spades!" Leaping high into the air, she prepared herself for what was intended to be the final strike. Jimmy looked on in interest as energy appeared to be drawn into Tsuruko's sword from the air around her until it seemed to glow and even pulse. "SHIN LIGHTNING SMASH!" Tsuruko yelled as she reached the height of her jump. With a swing of her sword, she fired her attack towards Jimmy with a speed that resembled its namesake. What quickly followed was an explosion similar to those of Suu's various weapons of mass destruction.

Tsuruko smiled as she made her descent, watching the blast that enveloped Jimmy. Upon landing, she sheathed her sword and proceeded to calm herself down, knowing that her aggravating sparring match was at an end--or so she thought.

"So that was your ultimate attack," Jimmy said from within the dome of energy. "I had always wondered."

"No, this isn't possible," Tsuruko thought, shocked that Jimmy was able to speak at all, much less in such a calm tone. Shortly thereafter, the cloud of energy dissipated, revealing a still standing Jimmy within. Granted, he wasn't exactly unscathed by any means, but it was obvious that Tsuruko's last attack did not do as much damage as originally intended. "How can this be?" she asked.

"You and Motoko aren't the only ones I've been training with," Jimmy said. Ever since the war between them ended, Suu's perspective concerning him changed from hated rival to new playmate--enough said. "I think I've had about enough for one day, don't you?"

"You think you can just end this fight just like that?" Tsuruko asked.

"Think about it," Jimmy said. "You just used your best attack against me and I'm still standing. What else can you throw at me? Besides, this was intended to teach you a few things."

"Like what?" Tsuruko asked, obviously in disbelief that there was an underlying objective to everything that had happened up to that point.

"Well, for starters, you should learn not to take everything I say so seriously."

"So all that talk about you and me--"

"I may not the smartest man in the world, but I know enough not to risk getting Motoko pissed at me if the way you reacted was any indication. That leads me to my second point; don't let your emotions get the better of you in combat."

"Do not think of me as a novice. I am well aware of that."

"That may be true, but there is a big line between merely saying it and putting it into practice--one I see you have yet to cross. This was actually something I was counting on in our encounter."

"Why is that?" Tsuruko asked, genuinely curious.

"Because most martial arts masters try to keep their best move a secret, even from their students. In order to find out yours, I knew I needed to piss you off royally."

"And what better way to do that than not only treat your relationship with Motoko like some little fling, but try to hit on me in the process," Tsuruko said, now fully understanding Jimmy's rationale and, in doing so, any trace of resentment left her. "How long have you been planning this?"

"For a while," Jimmy said. "All I needed was the right opportunity to present itself. You up for another round?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," Tsuruko said.

"Oh, don't worry about me." With that, their sparring match began anew, but this time around, there would be no further attempts made by one to infuriate the other.

* * *

Ever since his prior trips to other-worldly locales, Sean wanted to figure out how to do it himself without outside assistance. It took a while, but he finally developed the will to actually go about doing that very thing. As is usually the case in this situation, he spent much of his free time working in his room. If you were to watch him, it appeared as though he was writing down blueprints like Suu as opposed to a spell, but this would be a pretty accurate description for his methods, as he was literally combining a few different spells to achieve the desired effect. It would take three days of planning before the time came for a trail run…

10:11 AM

"Alright," Sean said, taking a deep breath. "No turning back now." He knew well enough that any number of things could go wrong at any time, but such was the risk of progress. Besides, if he didn't want to lead a risky life, he never would have become the landlord of Hinata-Sou in the first place.

After looking over the spell one last time, he walked to the middle of the room and moved his arms in an intricate pattern. "Concentrate on your destination…" he thought. "…focus your energy and…" He finished by pointing two fingers straight up. At the tips, a point of light appeared briefly before a globe of wavy blue energy washed over him. Moments later, the sphere shrank into nothingness.

Sean was a bit surprised to find that the trip went as smoothly as it did. He would have figured that there might have been at least some bumps along the way, but that's why people experiment; to answer questions in their minds and even some that they never even considered. All in all, the jaunt only took about fifteen seconds, the ending of which signified by Sean feeling solid ground beneath his feet. Moments later, all the blue surrounding him seemed to just wither away, revealing to him where he ended up: The video game dimension housed in the quarters of the resident swordswoman. A smile appeared on Sean's face when he saw that the spell was a success and more so upon seeing the look of surprise on the face of Shinobu, whom he had instructed to be there only minutes before. "Well, here I am," he said. "And I didn't even have to go through Motoko's room to do it."

"Is this what you've been working on this whole time?" Shinobu asked.

"That's right," Sean said.

"Why did you have me come here?"

"I needed someone on the other side to make sure everything was working properly."

"Why did you want to learn to go from one dimension to another?" Shinobu asked as they went out of the video game and into Motoko's room.

"I've always had somewhat of a fascination with outer space," Sean said. "And my experiences here--most notably me visiting the goddesses--made me realize that there are some places you just can't reach with a space shuttle. Besides, wouldn't it be interesting to explore other worlds?"

"I guess," Shinobu said. "I never really thought about it that much, though. Maybe it's because I like being right here… with you."

"Well, I should hope so," Sean said. "But you'll have to be without me for a while."

"Why's that?" Shinobu asked.

"Well, I still have to work on that last spell. It may have gone without a hitch just now, but more tests need to be done in order to find and fix any glitches it may have. If I do it now, it'll prevent any mishaps in the future." Sensing Shinobu's anxiety, he gave her a quick kiss. "Hey, cheer up. You know me; I can take care of myself, no matter what life throws at me."

Shinobu hugged Sean tightly. "Please don't be gone too long," she said.

"I'll do my best." When Sean returned to his room, he gave out a sigh. "This never gets easier," he said, followed shortly by shaking his head as he readied himself for a repeat performance…

* * *

After their second round of battling one on one--which, for what it's worth, went by much smoother than the first one--Jimmy gave Tsuruko a grand tour of his training area. Every step of the way, Tsuruko was amazed not only by the detail Sean put into the décor, but also with the internal workings he programmed into it. It seemed as though the plane itself analyzed each participant and, from that, brought forth a perfectly suited training regimen. She even admitted to herself that if it wasn't for the fact that she'd eventually have to eat, she might never want to leave. The last thing she thought before doing that very thing was to remember to ask Sean to make her one of her own.

Meanwhile, Motoko was doing some training of her own in both her body (kata practice) and her mind (schoolwork). Today's agenda was somewhat altered by Sean's request to use her room--or to be more specific, the game dimension housed therein. Naturally, she was curious as to what Sean had planned, but she has long since learned to keep her nose out of that which she had no business involving herself in, especially when it had to do with a certain wizard and his experiments. Of course, she didn't need anyone to tell her that was what was going on.

About twenty minutes before Sean's first attempt at planar travel, Motoko left for Jimmy's house. At the time, she was unaware that her sister had paid him a visit, but she will soon enough…

9:53 AM

It would only take a few moments after Motoko knocked on Jimmy's door for him to answer it, and less time for the first signs of a blush to appear on the swordswoman's face upon seeing him in his skivvies. "I'm sorry," she said. "Did I wake you?"

"Nah," Jimmy said in a much friendlier tone than to his first visitor. "I just finished working out a few minutes ago." He stepped aside so Motoko could enter. "I was just making something to eat. You want some?"

"Thanks, but I already ate."

"Fair enough." As they walked towards the kitchen, Jimmy couldn't help but noticed the distracted look on Motoko's face. "Is something wrong?"

"What?" Motoko said, returning to the reality she never knew she left. "Oh, no, it's just that I have this strangest feeling all of a sudden." She shrugged it off. "It's probably just Sean working in his room again."

"What's he up to this time?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know," Motoko said. "And I'd like to keep it that way. There are those things that I'd rather not know about."

Jimmy nodded in understanding as they entered the kitchen, where bacon and eggs were currently frying on the stove. "So," he said, tending to the morning meal. "What brings you here?"

"Do I have to have a reason?" Motoko asked.

"I guess not," Jimmy said.

After that, the room fell to relative silence, but Motoko took no notice of it, as her mind was elsewhere. "This isn't Sean, that much I know," she thought, referring to the weird feeling she felt--and still is. "But if it isn't him, then who is it? More importantly, where is it coming from?" Focusing on the signal, she was more than surprised to find that the origin was inside Jimmy's house. "Jimmy," she finally said. "Is there somebody else here?"

"I was wondering how long it would take for you to sniff me out." Turning around, Motoko didn't know which came as a bigger shock: The fact that Tsuruko was standing there or that she was in naught but a towel.

When Motoko eventually regained her senses, she turned back to Jimmy. "When were you going to tell me my sister was here?"

"We wanted it to be a surprise," Jimmy said. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes," Tsuruko said, sitting down next to Motoko at the kitchen table. "If you had not arrived, we might not have told you I was here, especially knowing how much you enjoy my visits."

Motoko gave Tsuruko an evil look. "If you recall, the last time you stopped by, it wasn't exactly under the best of circumstances."

"I suppose." Though she tried not to show it, Motoko was getting annoyed at how Tsuruko treated something that, for her, was a traumatic event as though it was something as minor as a paper cut.

"I'll leave you two to catch up," Jimmy said as he put a plate of food in front of Tsuruko--apparently, the meal he was preparing was for her the whole time. Without another word, Jimmy left for his turn in the shower.

"So, why have you come here?" Motoko asked after mentally calming down.

"You know that Jimmy has gone to Kyoto to spar with me a few times, right?" Tsuruko asked between bites.

"Of course."

"Well, I thought it might be appropriate if I made the trip for once. I am glad I did, as I just had one of, if not the best training session I have had in my life."

"Now that that's settled," Motoko half-muttered, "would you kindly explain why you are in your current state of undress?"

"Jimmy offered to let me get myself cleaned up before I left. Had I known you were coming, I would have gotten dressed right afterwards."

"And what, pray tell, would you have done had I stayed home?" Motoko asked, still glaring at her older sister.

"You assume too much," Tsuruko said, her calm tone never wavering. "Have you yet to learn not to jump to conclusions?"

"No, but put yourself in my place and see what explanations you come up with."

"Point taken," Tsuruko said. "I must admit though, Jimmy certainly is something. Not only is a gentleman and an amazing warrior, he can also cook. I tell you, if I wasn't already married--"

"SISTER!" Motoko cried, becoming disturbed by the direction in which the conversation was turning.

"Motoko, relax," Tsuruko said with a laugh. "I would never try to steal him from you. However, there are those who wouldn't think twice about it."

"And if anyone did, she would be at my mercy."

"I would expect nothing less."

"Is there another reason why you have come here?" Motoko said after a few moments of silence.

"There is," Tsuruko said. "I was actually hoping I would see you, as there is something I have been meaning to ask you."

"What is it?" Motoko asked, genuinely curious.

"What kind of relationship do you and Jimmy possess?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well for example, where have you two gone together?"

"Well, we have gone to the movies a couple times. Aside from that, we've spent most of our time together working out like you did this morning."

"I see. And just how long were you planning on keeping it like this?"

"Like what?"

"The way I see it, Jimmy appears to be more like a personal trainer to you than a boyfriend. It's great that you found someone you can connect with, but there has to be more to it than that."

"Tsuruko, you do not know the life I lead."

"Then why don't you enlighten me?" Tsuruko asked.

"For starters, my schoolwork combined with the commitments I have to keep to the kendo club tie up a lot of my time. What free time I do get I usually spend at the Hinata-Sou, but there's always something going on over there that either distracts me or demands my attention in some other way, not to mention the fact that any sort of privacy is always in short supply, to say the very least. There are days when I barely have the time to even get any training done. You know I have that portal to another world, right?"

"Of course."

"Well, I can't even go there right now, as Sean is getting ready to do one of those magic experiments of his in there. All that, plus a possible college career to consider and plan for leaves me without any time to do all those things couples usually do. Jimmy understands this and therefore does not press the issue."

"That may be all well and good," Tsuruko said. "but this isn't how you should be living your life. Even now, I can see how stressed your busy schedule is making you. Being a warrior is not just about strengthening your body, but keeping your mind sharp as well. From what you have told me, it will only be a matter of time before your martial arts skills begin to suffer. What you need to do is go out and enjoy life."

"But I don't have time to--"

"Then make time! Yes, you have a lot on your plate right now; a lot of girls your age do. Also, I respect the dedication you put into your swordsmanship, but there is such a thing as overdoing it."

"What do you suggest that I do, then?" Motoko asked.

"Well, considering that tomorrow is Valentine's, why don't you two go to the mall or something? I'm sure that if you get something for him, he'll return the favor."

"Unlike most girls, I am not exactly an expert at that sort of thing."

"So what? You really need to keep an open mind to new experiences. You never know, you might enjoy it."

"You're right. I'll ask him when he gets out of the shower."

"Good," Tsuruko said. "Also, when you get the time, think back to the last time you were completely at peace. You may surprise yourself with what you find." Just then, Motoko stifled a laugh; something that didn't go unnoticed. "What is so funny?"

"I'm sorry; it's just that seeing you like this reminded me of the first time I came here."

"And in what way?" Tsuruko asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Like you, I did not have the foresight to bring an extra change of clothes."

"What did you do?" For some reason, Motoko felt the need to whisper her explanation into her sister's ear. Moments later, a look of surprise appeared on the elder Aoyama's face. "You didn't!"

"I did," Motoko said.

"Well, I'm sure he got a rise out of that."

"That he did." The two then broke out into a laugh.

It was then that Jimmy returned, fully clothed. "Hey, what's so funny?"

* * *

After Tsuruko got dressed and gave her farewells, Motoko proposed her elder's suggestion to Jimmy, who agreed to it whole-heartedly. Right away, they set out for the mall. This was Motoko's idea, as she did not want to give herself enough time to back out, should the impulse strike her. During the car ride, no specific plans were made (at least not verbally). Instead, they settled on looking in every store (with some exceptions, of course) and see if anything caught the interest of one, the other or both. Naturally, this path would go through some clothing stores. While there, Motoko surprised herself by her own willingness to try on outfits, mostly because she was never that comfortable in situations like that. Then again, she never was as enthusiastic about clothes shopping as most other girls--her age and otherwise. Knowing that, she had the distinct feeling her sister's words of wisdom held some sway in her current mindset. After a while, they collectively decided to get something to eat at the food court.

11:04 AM

"So," Jimmy said. "You enjoying yourself?"

"I suppose," Motoko said, sipping her drink. She had to admit to herself that, had Jimmy not gone with her, she would not have had as good a time--not to mention that, more likely than not, she would have left within ten minutes of showing up.

"Don't worry about it," Jimmy said. "I know this isn't exactly your element. How about we go to one more place, then head for home. How does that sound?

"Sure, why not?" Motoko said. After they finished eating, went to the shop Jimmy had picked out. Upon arrival, Motoko quickly changed her tune. "No," she said, switching glances between Jimmy and the lingerie store they were standing in front of. "There is no way I'm going in there." All the while, she made sure to keep her voice low to avoid making a scene.

"Hey, we agreed to go to one more place before heading back, right?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes, but had I known where you were going to lead me I would have--"

"You would have refused outright." Jimmy said, finishing Motoko's sentence for her. "That's why I saved this one for last."

"If you think I am going in there, you are sadly mistaken." Motoko then started to walk away, but her progress was quickly cut short. "Will you let go of my hair?"

"C'mon, Motoko," Jimmy said. For the time being, he had a tight grip on the situation. "You're not afraid to go in there, are you?"

"Fear is not the issue," Motoko said. "But self-respect is. Now, if you don't let go in five seconds, I'll--"

"You'll what?" Jimmy asked. "You didn't even bring your sword with you."

"Didn't I?" Motoko raised her right hand into Jimmy's field of vision, where he saw the ring and the significance--in a manner of speaking--it held within. Jimmy was well aware of the present Sean had made over two years before, and there have been times where he wanted to curse him out for doing it. "I am giving you one last chance. Remove your hand or I'll do it for you."

Jimmy knew well enough that Motoko was never one to make idle threats, so he wasted no time in releasing her from his grasp. "Alright, alright, you made your point," he said. "But won't you go in anyway? For me?"

Over the next minute and a half, all that could be heard from Motoko was some murmuring that was barely audible and hardly understandable. "Okay," she finally said. "But you owe me." Jimmy then entered the store, with Motoko somewhat reluctantly following behind. "I can't believe I'm doing this," she thought bitterly. "More than that, I can't believe he actually expects me to wear this stuff." Meanwhile, Jimmy was having thoughts of his own, but they shall not be disclosed here for obvious reasons.

"Hey, Motoko," Jimmy said, snapping the swordswoman out of thoughts that involved a few choice garments and a blowtorch. "What do you think of this?" he asked, presenting a red number for Motoko's evaluation, but all she did was grab it and head over to the curtain at the far end of the store that led to the dressing rooms, but not before giving him a look that could be interpreted as saying either "Let's get this over with," or "I'll get you for this."

"Um…" Jimmy said, suddenly fearing what might happen to him--or to be more specific, a body part or two. "Why do I have the feeling I might regret this?" he thought. Resigning to what cards fate might deal him, he moved toward the curtain, but he would get a tad sidetracked by the time he reached it.

"Well, hello there."

Jimmy looked over to find a woman approaching him. To most men, the blonde would be considered perfection in a mini-skirt. Despite this, Jimmy was able to keep his composure. "Hello yourself."

"I saw what happened back there. It seems she isn't too happy to be here."

"Well, this is a first for her; for both of us, actually."

"You're kidding," the woman said. "A hunk like you must have a swarm of girls vying for your attention."

"Not really," Jimmy said, keeping a neutral expression on his face. "I usually keep to myself in that regard."

"That's too bad. If you more outgoing, I'm sure you would find someone a bit more… experienced in matters such as this."

"Someone like you, I presume?"

"You catch on quick. Why don't hook up sometime and I should show you what I'm capable of."

"I hate to break it to you, but I'm strictly a one-woman man."

"And the problem with that is…?"

"Alright, Jimmy," Motoko said. "I'm coming out."

"Don't keep me suspense, Motoko." Jimmy watched as a hand appeared from the beyond and pulled the curtain aside… and his jaw immediately dropped.

"Hmm," the woman said, appraising Motoko, whose face currently matched the outfit she had on. "That looks good on you." She glanced over at Jimmy. "And from the looks of it, he agrees."

Now, you must understand that this whole ordeal was already humiliating enough for the swordswoman, but adding a second critic to the mix only made it that much more so. In an instant, before she was even fully aware of it, Motoko closed the curtain, returning to the relative privacy of the dressing room.

"It's a shame, really," the blonde said. "Seeing someone as handsome as you wasting your time with someone like that." Fortunately for her, Motoko was out of ear shot. "I mean, sure, she's beautiful and all, but she has no idea how to show it off. Me on the other hand..." It was at that point that she noticed that Jimmy was still in a mild state of shock. "Hello, you in there?" she asked, snapping her fingers in his face.

"Oh, sorry," Jimmy said, shaking his head as he came out of his daze. "What were you talking about now?"

"Oh, nothing," the woman said. "Well, see you later, hot stuff." She then sauntered out of the store.

"Ooookay," Jimmy said to himself, somehow compelled to watch the bombshell until the sound of a curtain moving demanded his attention.

"Alright," Motoko said. "You happy? Let's go." Not wanting to argue--mostly because it might be a health risk--Jimmy complied and they left the store and, eventually, the mall itself. By the time they reached the parking lot, Motoko had calmed down enough so that certain details of that last episode (which, as a whole, was something she would want to forget) came into focus. "Who was that woman you were talking to before?" she asked.

"Nobody," Jimmy said, knowing the question was going to come eventually. "Just some lady trying to hit on me."

"Was she now?" Motoko asked, casting a suspicious glance in Jimmy's direction.

"Don't look at me like that," Jimmy said. "I would never cheat on you."

"Oh, I believe you." Even Motoko couldn't be sure if that was sarcasm or not. "That woman…" she thought. "Why do I feel as though I've seen her before?"

The ride home was spent in, at least for Jimmy, a very uncomfortable silence. The whole way, Motoko never said anything to him, which only made him think he had upset her--as if he couldn't think of any reasons why. Despite this, Motoko actually appeared to be deep in thought, as though she was trying to put a puzzle together in her head. Feeling the car stop in front of Hinata-Sou jarred her out of her thoughts.

"See you later, Motoko," Jimmy said.

"Where are you off to?" Motoko asked after leaving the car--it was apparent Jimmy wouldn't be joining her.

"There's a couple thing I need to take care of."

Motoko watched the car go of into the horizon. "I wonder…"

* * *

"Oh man, I've really done it this time," Sean muttered to himself as he stood at the jagged and steep peak of a black tower, holding onto a flagpole located there for dear life. Below him, a dark metropolis stretched out in all directions, it inhabitants scurrying around like ants. It seemed obvious that they were looking for something--or perhaps, someone. Of course, in order to find out how he got there in the first place, one would need to look back to his subsequent attempts at Plane Shift…

10:20 AM

Sean's second other-worldly journey went much like the first, though he was quick to notice that the trip took a while longer in comparison. He was not surprised in the least by this however, as he had expected it to take longer to go to places that were not of his own creation. Over the course of the next two minutes, he allowed himself a better look at how the spell functioned. Just when he was starting to wonder when he was going to reach his destination, he felt solid ground beneath his feet.

"Ground floor: TVs, cameras, laptops and other electronic paraphernalia," he said to himself. He knew how corny that might have sounded, but since nobody could hear him, it didn't really matter. The blue orb surrounding him faded away soon after, but before he could get his bearings, he heard what could only be described as a squeal. It was at this time that he knew his arrival had witnesses--not to mention the fact that his point of entry was a bit off the mark. Then again, what red blooded man wouldn't want to be in the bathroom of a certain group of deities?

Before Sean could even turn to face his unexpected audience, he was tackled from behind. The rush of long blonde hair that passed by his field of vision on the way down narrowed the identity of his attacker to two goddesses, but the voice that followed brought it to one. "Sean, you're back!" Brittany cheered. "It's been so long!"

"Yeah, it has," Sean said after getting his wind back. "Um, could you get off me please? You're getting my clothes all wet." As if that was actually what he was paying attention to.

"Oh, sure," the ditzy blonde said, helping Sean to his feet.

"I was expecting an interesting response to me showing up, but nothing quite like that," Sean muttered as he got upright and noticed that the goddess of music was accompanied by two others of her ilk.

"Sorry about that," Brittany said. "I guess I just got a bit carried away. I mean, all of a sudden, we saw this big blue ball appear out of nowhere. How were we supposed to know who or what was inside?"

"On that note," Julie said. "Why are you here? I don't recall there being a reason why anyone would have you come here."

"Yeah, after the last time, there was nothing left to be done," Nancy added.

"Well," Sean began. "I had just finished making a spell for planar travel and I figured, what better place to go for a test run? Besides, like Brittany said, it's been quite a while since I've seen you all."

"So you thought you could just appear in our shower any time you wanted?" Julie asked, making her insinuations obvious.

"In my own defense, I was expecting to show up in the living room. I guess there's still a bug or two to work out. Any way you look at it, it means I won't have to hitch a ride if I feel like paying you a visit."

"Well, since you're already here," Brittany asked, not leaving Sean's side. "Why not join us? We're the only ones here right now, Amy aside, and we could always use the extra company."

"You know what? As appealing as that sounds…" That's putting it lightly. "…I have other places to go and people to see. Besides, I can't be gone for too long or else I may have to explain myself to Shinobu. She already knows that I left and why, but not where. Besides, if you're implying what I think you are, you won't be needing any help from me."

"You certainly have a point there," Julie said.

"Well, promise you'll visit us again soon, okay?" Nancy asked.

"Sure thing," Sean said. "And I'll make sure to contact one of you ahead of time when I do. Until then, ladies, I'll leave you to shower in peace." With that, Sean left for the hallway. Just as he reached the door, Nancy's voice demanded his attention.

"Remember: You'll always be welcome here."

"Yeah, especially on Sundays!" Brittany added.

"I'll keep that in mind," Sean said with a laugh, closing the door behind him. "Alrighty then," he sighed as he made his way through the main corridor. "That could have gone a bit better. Of course, it could also have gone a whole lot worse. What's important is that I made it here safe and sound. Now, just one more trip before I head for home." After zapping on some shoes, he visualized his destination in his mind and performed Plane Shift once again. Unbeknownst to him however, his departure did not go unnoticed.

"Huh," Amy said after watching Sean leave. "I thought I heard his voice."

"Yep, that was him alright," Julie said, appearing through the bathroom door, wrapped in a towel. "He finally figured out how to get here on his own."

"I'm sure the others would be happy to hear that," Amy said. "Some more so than others."

"You got that right." After a slight pause, Julie asked the all-important question: "Do you want to tell Stephanie or should I?"

* * *

Sean's third trip through extra-dimensional space went about as smoothly as the first two, but the landing would further expose perhaps the one flaw in the spell--and quite a major one at that. As soon as he arrived, he knew right away that something was, shall we say, amiss. The surrounding buildings were black with soot, matched by the ceiling of smoke above, keeping everything in perpetual shadow--oh yeah, there was also the issue of the poisonous atmosphere.

Right away, Sean placed his hands at his throat and went down on his knees, the inability to breathe catching him by surprise. "What the hell!" he thought, his mind going into panic mode, mostly from fear of losing his life within moments of arriving at that particular God-forsaken patch of dirt. "No! I will not die today!" Thinking quickly, he conjured up a spell that eased the pressure on his lungs, effectively rendering his respiratory system useless for the time being.

"Oh man," Sean said after coughing out the offending air. "That was way too close for comfort." Getting back on his feet, he quickly noticed that, indeed, he was a far cry from his target. "What have I gotten myself into this time?" he asked himself, figuring the toxic environment would only be the first in a long line of obstacles he'd have to face during his unintentional visit.

"Well, isn't this a cheerful place?" Sean muttered. "I bet the welcoming committee will be just as friendly." Turning around, he found himself greeted by the sight of half a dozen men staring back at him--and from the weapons they were holding, it was obvious that they weren't there to give him a tour. "Yup." Sean then broke out on a run, but it would not take long for the locals to catch up with him, capture him and knock him out.

11:10 AM

"Ow, my head," Sean said upon regaining consciousness. He tried to move his hands to try to relieve himself somewhat of his migraine, but quickly found himself unable to move them. After clearing his head a bit, he looked around and noticed that he was shackled to a column in a room that could only be described as a throne room from Hell. The only thing that deviated from that image was the fact that there were no remains of those unfortunate enough to be in Sean's current situation. On neighboring columns were sets of cuffs similar to those around his wrists, but the thing that stood out about them was, unlike his own, they were all vacant. This brought up some interesting theories in Sean's mind: Maybe prisoners were hard to come by; maybe they had a knack for cleaning up after themselves; maybe they had ways of dealing with intruders that didn't leave remains.

Before Sean could contemplate what those methods might consist of, a grand set of double doors to his right opened to reveal a being the likes of which he has never seen before--and wished that was still the case. The figure stood about five and a half feet tall with a head that resembled a giant mosquito. The rest of its body was that of a human, but only that of one who had been turned inside out. Naturally, Sean was disgusted by the sight of such a repulsive creature.

"So you have awakened," the... thing said, surprising Sean by his ability to understand it. "Before I have you killed, maybe you would like to explain why you have come here."

"You think I'd actually come to a place like this on purpose?" Sean asked. "I am merely a traveler who obviously made a wrong turn somewhere. Um, where exactly am I, anyway?"

The biology project gone wrong gave out a laugh at Sean's question. "You know so little of what you have gotten yourself into. This is the city of Helgedad, the Black City, and I am Gnaag, ruler of all the Darklands and the commander of the Darklord armies."

"It figures," Sean thought. "I just had to wind up in the Darklord capital and be face to face with the head honcho himself, didn't I?" "You know," he said. "This was all just one big misunderstanding. How about you just let me go and we can pretend this whole thing never happened. How does that sound?"

Gnaag got right in Sean's face. "Mercy is for spineless worms."

"I know people who would take great offense to that. There are some of us who actually have something to live for--not anything you'd be familiar with, I'm sure."

"I could have you thrown into the Lake of Blood right now," Gnaag said. "Your eternal suffering will help feed the flames, like countless others before you."

"And as soon as my friends find out, they'll come and beat the stuffing out of you and everyone that would stand in their way," Sean continued. "That is, if I let you do it in the first place."

"And how would you be able to stop me?"

"I have my ways. I'm not exactly your average, run-of-the-mill human. Every opponent I've ever faced can attest to that. Well, every one that isn't dead, of course."

"And by this, you think you can defeat me just as easily?"

"The Kai didn't have that much trouble about ten months ago when your forces tried to take down the monastery, did they?"

Gnaag let out some unearthly grunt as he backed up a couple steps, a clear sign that he knew of the incident. "They were incompetent fools, pure and simple. The Lake of Blood was too good for them. From the report they gave me, the entire battalion of Kraan riders got taken out by one man! The only good news was that the wretch did not survive it either. At least I won't have to deal with an annoyance like that again."

"What makes you think that?" Sean asked, allowing himself a smile, at least partly because Gnaag currently had his back to him.

"Because the battle ended in a giant ball of flame," Gnaag said. "There's no way anything could have lived through that."

"I don't know," Sean said. "Something tells me he could."

Gnaag turned around and was about to have Sean explain his reasoning, but that particular train of thought was cut short when he saw that his captive had somehow escaped from his chains. "How did--" Suddenly, the last puzzle piece fell into place. "YOU!"

"You look upset," Sean said, still grinning. "Was it something I said?"

"You were the one who single-handedly defeated my troops, weren't you?"

"It took this long for you to figure that out?" Sean then sent an arrow of light speeding towards Gnaag, hitting him square in the chest. With an unearthly cry, the Darklord fell to his knees and then down flat on the ground, after which Sean could see his projectile sticking out the thing's back. "Not that it matters now. As much as I love this place, my home is elsewhere."

Just when Sean was about to begin preparations for departure, he heard laughing coming from Gnaag's general direction. "It will take more than that to kill me," he said.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Sean thought as he watched Gnaag get back up, grab the arrow still imbedded in him and proceed to yank it out effortlessly. For all intents and purposes, the attack didn't do jack.

"Nice try," Gnaag said as he snapped the arrow like a twig, which disappeared shortly thereafter. "But if you think such a minor trick will do me in like it did my soldiers, you're sadly mistaken."

"The same can be said for you if you think I'm a one trick pony," Sean shot back.

"Try all you want," Gnaag said. "There is no way you can kill me."

"Maybe not, but I can keep you preoccupied long enough for me to leave this god forsaken place without needing a coffin." With a wave of his hand, Sean lifted Gnaag off of the ground and slammed him against the wall, following it up with arrows to the wrists and ankles. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be on my way."

"Not so fast," Gnaag said. "There's still one thing blocking your way."

"And what might that be?"

"Them." Right when Gnaag said that, the doors burst open and a few soldiers quickly entered and surrounded Sean, swords drawn. "What are you going to do now?" Gnaag taunted.

"You know," Sean said. "There's one thing you should know about me. One minute, you can see me here, facing imminent death, and the next…" He snapped his fingers, causing a blinding light to flood the room. A few moments later, the light went away, and Sean with it.

"…I'm gone," Sean finished as he hovered above the tower that, presumably, he was inside just seconds before. In order to conserve his energy, he drifted down onto said tower, but as soon as his feet made contact, he heard Gnaag's voice inside his head. If it wasn't for the convenient flagpole, he probably would have lost his balance. Cleaned up, the message told of an escaped prisoner with orders to terminate him on sight.

"Oh man," Sean muttered to himself. "I've really done it this time." After the message concluded, all of Helgedad below suddenly became a bustle of activity. It seemed almost as though the city itself was out to get him--and that was probably more accurate than it should have been.

He knew time was short, so he went through various options in his mind. The first and most obvious route would be to Plane Shift back to Earth, but the spell takes a while to cast and his pursuers might be on him before he's able to complete it. Option #2: Teleport to the Kai Monastery and the relative safety therein. The problem with that idea was that he didn't know in which direction or how far away it was, and going in some random direction would most likely lead to him running out of energy long before reaching his destination. Granted, any place would be better than his current location, but there's no telling what other dangers there are in this world just waiting for the unsuspecting traveler to come across it.

"Well, I guess I have no other choice," Sean said with a sigh, pretty much resigning to the prospect that the path back home will go through at least some of the creatures milling about twenty stories below. Of course, that only left one question unanswered: How exactly to pave the way down that path without getting killed in the process.

* * *

Gnaag's message had been sent to every living being in Heldgead, regardless of rank or species, forcing all to stop whatever it was they were originally doing in order to search for and kill the runaway. Two soldiers in particular were walking down an ash-choked street after having been relieved of guard duty, discussing their new orders and the difficulties involved, including the obvious...

"How are we supposed to find the prisoner?" the first one asked. "We don't even know what he looks like."

"The way I see it--" the second one started to respond, but was interrupted by a strange noise coming from the alley they had passed just moments before. "Did you hear that?"

"I didn't hear anything," the first guard said.

"I'm going to check it out real quick." With that, the second guard went down into the alley, disappearing from view. It would not take long for him to discover the source of the sound, but what he found wasn't something he was expecting--nor was he prepared for.

Hearing his comrade cry out, the first soldier ran into the alley to find him lying motionless on the ground, the pool of blood surrounding him signifying that he was no longer amongst the living. "Who did this do you?" he asked no one in particular as he knelt down next to his fallen partner to see what had done him in. Unfortunately for him, he was about to find out the hard way.

"This is just too easy."

Startled by the foreign sounding voice, the guard turned around to find Sean standing before him. "You did this! Then you must be the esca--" He would not get to finish his sentence before a dagger hit him right between the eyes, killing him instantly.

"Well, that's two down," Sean said, disappearing just in time for more soldiers to arrive and see his handiwork. This would be only the start of the chaos Sean would create in Helgedad. Within minutes, reports of fallen soldiers spread like wildfire. What frustrated the high officers the most was the fact that there appeared to be no pattern to the murders whatsoever, both in method and location. One would be in an alley with a knife buried in his skull, the next in the middle of the street without a head, the next suspended from a wall, impaled on his own sword.

Meanwhile, on the other end, realization set in Sean's mind, but it took until his twenty-seventh kill to do it which, in retrospect, was far too long for him. "What am I doing?" he asked himself after slitting his latest victim's throat, turning invisible and taking to the skies--something he did after every strike. "Killing these guys one at a time is just not going to get the job done. There just has to be a better way to do this." Suddenly, a light bulb went on in his head. "Yes. Yes, there is."

Satisfied with what he hoped would be the last attack strategy he would have to come up with for a good long time, Sean flew around the city until he found about three score troops lined up below him, apparently getting ready to be deployed. "That'll work," he mused. Touching down about thirty feet behind the squadron, he prepared himself to set his plan into motion.

"Well, here goes nothing," he thought as he deactivated his invisibility spell. "Hey, boneheads!" he shouted, getting the soldiers' attention. "You lookin' for someone?" Much to Sean's confusion, all the troops did was stare at him, but confusion quickly turned to alarm when he saw the first two rows reach for their sides and pull out crossbows trained on either Sean's head or chest.

"Uh oh." Sean put up a shield just in time to receive the barrage of bolts. Thankfully, none reached their target. Without missing a beat, Sean turned and ran, casting a full-body shield spell in the process. "I just had to pick a squad with crossbows, didn't I!" he muttered to himself. Looking back for a brief moment, he saw the soldiers giving chase. "Oh well, at least I accomplished what I set out to do. Now to see if my bait is fully taken."

As Sean followed his winding and somewhat random path through the city, he could hear the sounds of alarm bells in his wake. He knew this would mean more pursuers, but this had been anticipated. After a while, he began to see the crossbowmen that started the chase as more and more of a blessing, as he knew they would not be able to load their weapons on the fly. He felt that as long as he stayed out of sword's reach, everything would be fine for the time being.

After about ten minutes of constant running, he had to come to a stop; not because he was out of breath (mostly because he still had no need to breathe), but because of the mob of Darkland infantry in front of him. This allowed the soldiers behind him to catch up, completely surrounding him. "Well, it looks like the gang's all here," Sean muttered to himself as he watched the enemy slowly close in on him. "You think you have me trapped," he said, loud enough for his adversaries to hear. "But it is I who has cornered you."

Sean was not at all surprised to hear his captors laugh at his flawed logic--either that, or a really amateurish attempt at a Jedi mind trick. "Oh, you don't believe me? Well, let me show you what I mean." Just then, one of the soldiers rushed forward to cleave Sean in two, but the moment he got there, his target disappeared without a trace.

"Believe me now?" Sean asked, now hovering forty feet above where he once stood. "Now, what to do with all of you… ah yes, that will suffice." The crowd below could only watch in awe as the wizard conjured up one of the light arrows that he made so much use of in his last encounter with them. The only thing different about it was the bright red arrowhead. "And since one of you was so eager to volunteer, I think I'll do you first." Moving his arm in a mock throwing fashion (which was just for dramatic effect), he sent the arrow speeding down towards the unfortunate man to tried to run him through.

Upon impact, the arrow suddenly became a raging fireball, which quickly spread to a radius of about twenty feet, cremating all within it and severely burning those at its edge. Not giving them any time to recover from the shock of what they just witnessed, Sean sent more projectiles just like it into the gawking masses. It did not take long for the opposing forces to start fleeing for their lives, dropping whatever weapons they were intending on using.

"Look at them run," Sean said to himself, laughing in a way that would have made Suu proud. "Well, now that that's over with, it's about time I head for--" The end of that sentence would be pre-empted by a scream as he gets slammed in the back. The force of the blow sent him flying straight into the building, stunning him long enough for his flight spell to falter. "What the hell was that!" Sean asked as he got his bearings back.

"You have made quite a nuisance out of yourself." Instantly, Sean recognized Gnaag's voice. Turning around, he saw the Darklord accompanied by five men--at least he assumed they were men--in pitch black robes, their faces concealed in shadow. "I cannot allow that to continue."

"Then why not let me go home?" Sean asked, standing up. "It's not like I intend to come back to this place any time soon--perish the thought."

"I'd rather see you perish. That way, I will make sure you keep to your word." With a wave of his hand, four of the robed figures moved forward, forming a semi-circle around Sean. This, along with the wall, conspired to keep him contained.

"What's gonna happen now?" Sean thought, expecting the worst. In all his time as a student of the magical arts, the closest he ever came to being in combat with another of his kind was against the Aoyama sisters. Now, a full fledged, 4-on-1 mage battle is about to get under way. What fun.

Sean's gaze switched from person to person, just waiting for something to happen, which it did in the form of chanting--low, ominous and all in unison. A few tense moments went by, then he saw electricity arc from their fingers to collect in a ball between their hands--all four of which no doubt aimed at one target.

"Oh no," Sean said, creating four more fire bomb arrows. "It won't end like that." He would then vanish, followed shortly by explosions where each of the four evil wizards once stood. "You underestimate me, Gnaag," Sean then said from four stories up.

"Have I?" Gnaag asked, seemingly unfazed by what had just occurred, along with the fifth mage, who had stayed behind just in case Sean tried to pull a fast one. "Perhaps it is you who has underestimated us."

At first, Sean thought that the Darklord was just using a ploy in order to psyche him out, but all theories ground to a halt when he heard the same chanting once again. Looking around, he discovered that the four wizards were not only alive, but also floating at his altitude, their spells still in progress, but not for long.

"OH, CRAP!" Sean shouted, putting up a Level 2 shield just in time to receive a lightning bolt from each direction. Thankfully, his quick thinking saved him from certain death, but he wasn't out of the woods yet, as the bolts did not go away upon impact. "An attack spell that lasts," Sean muttered to himself. "That's exactly what I need right now."

"What have you got to say now?" Gnaag said. "I'm willing to bet they can last longer than you."

Sean heard what was said, but was too preoccupied to respond. As much as he hated to admit it, Gnaag had a point. All the spells he had performed up to this point were finally starting to catch up with him, making him wonder just how long he'd be able to maintain his defensive stand. "There has to be something I can do," he thought. He knew his time was very limited, as his barrier was already beginning to buckle under the pressure.

"Just give up!" Gnaag shouted. "There is no way you can survive."

"C'mon, Sean, think!" Sean thought. "If I don't think of something fast, those things will hit me!" That's when an idea sparked in his mind; one that might prove to be his one salvation. Not bothering to weigh the pros and cons, he decided to put the plan into action. "I hope this works."

Meanwhile, on the ground, Gnaag looked on as the only thing between his enemy and oblivion faded away. "He's finished!" he said to himself when the lightning bolts entered Sean's body, but that's not all that happened.

When Sean lowered his shield, he instantly shut his eyes tight, not wanting to watch his imminent death, should that happen. When he felt no pain, he slowly opened them to find that the four wizards were no longer surrounding him. Rather, they were on lying motionless the ground, gaping holes present in their respective chests. Silently, he offered a thanks to the heavens that his plan was a success.

When Gnaag saw that not only did his mages get struck down by their own attack, but that it also left it's intended target completely unharmed, he was rendered speechless. "How did you do that!" …well, almost speechless.

"Incorporeality spells can work wonders in a tight spot," Sean answered. (A/N Incorporeal: 1. Not corporeal or material; insubstantial. 2. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of nonmaterial beings.) "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going home now."

While staying in midair, Sean started making arm gestures, which made Gnaag realize his window of opportunity was closing fast. "What are you doing!" he shouted, smacking the fifth mage in the back of the head. "Don't let him get away!" His subordinate merely nodded and began casting his own lightning spell.

At this point, all Gnaag and the few soldiers stupid enough to stick around could do was watch the two spellcasters as the race to complete their respective incantations went under way. When a blue orb enveloped Sean, everyone thought all was lost, but that was until a streak of lightning struck it. A scream could be heard as the electrical energy seemed to mingle with that of Sean's. Much to everyone's amazement, the globe began to grow. When it got to about twenty-five feet in radius, it detonated, razing all surrounding buildings to the ground. The force of the blast sent both Gnaag and his accomplice flying backwards, shielding their eyes from the blinding light it produced. When everything calmed down, they returned in order to find Sean--or at least his remains, but there was not a trace of him to be seen. "Looks like we won't have to concern ourselves with him anymore," Gnaag said.

"Yes," the mage said. "But at what cost?"

11:20 AM

While Sean was fighting his personal demons, Jimmy drove back to the mall, intending to purchase a couple gifts for Motoko that he had mentally picked out earlier. However, he would barely get halfway through the parking lot before he was confronted.

"Well well," the blonde said. "We meet again." She turned to a redhead that accompanied her. "Didn't I tell you he was hot?"

"Yeah," she said; she was roughly the same height and a somewhat small bustline, but was gorgeous nonetheless. "but I didn't think he was this cute."

"As much as I'd like to stand here and chat," Jimmy said, not wanting to humor the blonde as much as he did the first time around. "I have business to tend to, so if you don't mind…"

"Oh no you don't," the blonde said, grabbing onto Jimmy's arm as he walked by. "You're not getting away that easily. Now that that girl--Motoko, or whatever her name was--isn't around, we can get around to what we really want."

"Yeah, like you letting go of my arm, for example," Jimmy said.

"You are such a kidder," the redhead said with a laugh.

"Who's kidding?" Jimmy muttered.

"Why don't you come back to our place?" the blonde said. "If you do, we'll rock your world like you wouldn't believe."

"Listen," Jimmy said. "You're both hot, I'll give you that, but I'm happy being with Motoko right now and I don't want to change that."

"You don't really mean that, do you?" the redhead asked. "I mean, what does she have that we don't?"

"A sword and the ability to use it, for starters," Jimmy said. "Being hounded like this," he thought. "No wonder I don't get out much."

"She would really try to hurt you!" the blonde asked with a gasp.

"If I cheat on her and she find out, that might be the least of my worries."

"That's horrible! We can't let that happen!"

"Does that mean you'll let go now?" Jimmy asked.

"No! I'll never let you go, and when that witch tries to do you harm, I'll protect you."

"Hey," Jimmy said, his tone demanding the attention of the two women. "Don't make me risk doing you harm! Now, let go of my arm before I pry you off myself!"

The blonde released him in an instant, suddenly fearing for her own safety. As Jimmy walked away, she called out to him. "You don't know what you're missing!"

"I'll manage," Jimmy called back. He continued on into the mall, unhindered by those who would try to get into his pants. His path through the shopping center was direct and straightforward, so it did not take long for him to complete his objective. However, despite the best laid plans, the guidance offered by the hand of fate is, more often than not, non-negotiable.

By the time he exited the mall, Jimmy had just about forgotten about the two ladies from before. Within seconds though, he would get hit in the face by a piece of paper. "What the hell?" he thought, removing the offending document and read it's contents: "Come up to the roof." "Dang, today is just full of the unexpected, isn't it?" Jimmy asked himself, looking up at the roof of the mall. Of course, getting up there would be no difficult task for him, but he couldn't help but wonder how anyone else could do the same thing without a set of keys.

Jimmy quickly made his way onto the roof and, upon arrival, saw a couple of familiar faces. "Oh, it's you again," he said. "I should have figured as much. Can't you two take no for a answer?"

"That's not why we called you up here," the redhead said.

"Oh? Why, then?"

"I felt we should formally introduce ourselves," the blonde said. "My name is Stephanie, and I am the goddess of love. What you just experienced was a test of your fidelity. I am happy to say that you have passed."

"You expect me to believe that?" Jimmy asked, giving her a skeptical look.

"Can't you just give me the benefit of the doubt?"

"Okay, assuming you are who you say you are, why are you telling me this?"

"Normally, I wouldn't, but because of the company you keep, I felt it was alright."

Jimmy was a bit confused by that last statement. "I'm not following you."

"I mean I know people at Hinata-Sou and they know me. In fact, you should be considering yourself lucky; you don't even want to know the torture I've put Sean through."

"Is that right?" Jimmy said. "And who might you be?" he asked, turning to the redhead.

"Catherine," she said. "Goddess of trickery and partner-in-crime. Only Sean knows me."

"So I suppose you've been messing with him too?"

"Nah. Suu, Sarah and Kitsune do a good enough job of that; they don't need any help from me, though that doesn't mean I haven't considered it."

"Um, would you mind if I told Motoko about all this, you know, for her benefit?" Jimmy asked.

"That would probably be best," Stephanie responded. "I wish I could stay longer and chat with you a while, but there is an urgent message for me back home. Maybe we'll see each other again sometime."

"Yeah, maybe." Jimmy watched as Stephanie faded out, leaving him and Catherine alone on the roof. "So," he said. "You and her work together all the time?"

"Most of the time," Catherine said. "Every so often, she selects some unsuspecting guy and test his fidelity. It's really just a coincidence that yours comes so close to Valentine's Day."

"What happens if the guy fails the test?"

"The girlfriend finds out, one way or another."

"Then it's a good thing I passed then, huh?"

"Yeah," Catherine laughed a bit before regaining her seriousness. "I'm a bit surprised by Stephanie today."

"Why's that?"

"It's just that, in most cases, we would be stripping for our target by now. Something tells me your association with Sean has may be the reason behind this."

"What does Sean have to do with this?" Jimmy asked.

"It goes back to when Stephanie first began her campaign against him. It all started as a test of his fidelity like we did to you today. The main difference in this was that she started big, probably expecting to end the test quickly. However, Sean was somehow able to get away clean--if you know what I mean. Over the next two months, she kept throwing down the gauntlet against him, but every time, he was able to persevere until it came to the point where breaking his will became her all-consuming goal."

"Well, considering who he lives with, I can certainly understand how he can resist temptation," Jimmy said. "It would almost be a job requirement."

"That's the thing," Catherine said. "She took advantage of Sean's living situation and effectively used it against him. Being the goddess of love, she has the capacity to change someone's hormone levels as easily as turning a dial. None of the girls were exempt from this. Sometimes she would bring the girls under her influence one at a time, sometimes all at once, but all were affected at one point or another."

"Even Motoko?" Jimmy asked.

"Yes, even Motoko, but this was well before she even met you. Nevertheless, none of them knew that Stephanie was responsible for all this, as she did it from the comforts of home--that is, until she got so frustrated that she took it upon herself to make a personal appearance and made one last stand. This time, not only did Stephanie fail yet again, but Sean also fought back."

"What did he do?" Jimmy asked, now more interested in Catherine's story than ever.

"He had her tortured in a way that, in my expert opinion, was a stroke of pure genius. Not only did the punishment fit the crime, but it was also probably the one thing that could make her regret her actions."

"Wow," Jimmy said. "It must have been something if it impressed you. What did he come up with?"

An evil grin appeared on Catherine's face. "I'm sure that if you asked Sean, he'll tell you all about it. Now, I should probably head back before Steph starts wondering where I'm at. It was nice meeting you."

"You too," Jimmy said as Catherine vanished before his very eyes. "What a day this is turning out to be," he muttered to himself as he left for his car, almost forgetting about the box that he was carrying with him the entire time.

The ride home was quick and uneventful. In almost no time at all, Jimmy found himself approaching the front door of Hinata-Sou. Even though he has become a regular and welcome visitor, he still knocked on the door, purely out of courtesy.

"Hello, Jimmy," Mutsumi said after opening the door.

"Hey, Mutsumi," Jimmy said.

"Motoko's on the roof."

"Thank you." Jimmy then entered the dorm and crossed the living room, greeting those therein along the way. He was just about to go up the stairs when he noticed Shinobu leave the kitchen. "Hey, Shinobu." Much to his surprise, the girl barely responded. "What's wrong?"

Shinobu approached Jimmy before answering. "It's Sean," she said, the somber expression on her face matching her tone of voice. "He hasn't come back yet."

"Where did he go?" Jimmy asked.

"I don't know," Shinobu said. "All I know is that he's been working on a spell to travel to other worlds."

"So he's taught himself Plane Shift, huh?" Jimmy thought. "How long has he been gone," he asked.

"It's been over two hours now."

"That does seem like a long time." Jimmy quickly tried to come up with a plausible reason for Sean's absence and put Shinobu more at ease. "Maybe he made friends in one of the places he went to and they're giving a tour or something. Don't worry; I'm sure he'll be back soon."

"I am too," Shinobu said. "But I help but feel like something went wrong."

"Well, don't lose hope." As Jimmy went upstairs, he mentally kicked himself for not helping Shinobu further, but on such short notice there probably wasn't much that he could have done. By the time he reached the roof, his thoughts had switched gears to his main objective. "I'm back."

"Hello, Jimmy," Motoko said. "Did you accomplish what you set out to do?"

"I sure did," Jimmy said, revealing the package that he had hidden behind his back up until then. "Happy Valentine's."

"Oh, Jimmy," Motoko said, taking the box and giving Jimmy a kiss. "You shouldn't have."

"I wanted to."

"I should have given you more credit," Motoko said. "When you left, I thought for a moment that you might have gone to see that woman from the lingerie store."

"Yeah, well, I didn't seek her out, but apparently, the same couldn't be said for her--and she brought a friend."

"Did she now?" Motoko asked, giving Jimmy a suspicious look.

"Yeah. Tell me, does the name Stephanie ring any bells?"

"Well, sure. She's the goddess of--" Suddenly, a light went on in Motoko's head. "So that's where I recognized her from. I should have known."

"So she was telling the truth," Jimmy muttered. "It seems she was just testing my faithfulness."

"And I'm assuming you passed?"

"If I didn't, you would know."

"That's good," Motoko said, taking a deep breath. "I feel as though a weight has been--did you feel that?"

"Yeah, I did," Jimmy said, a serious look on his face. Both of them found themselves staring at a seemingly insignificant spot on the platform. "That's Sean, isn't it?"

"There's no mistaking it," Motoko said. "Though I can't help but think that there's something a bit off about it." Right when she finished saying that, a blue orb appeared before them, but it appeared quite ragged and was laced with electricity.

"I agree," Jimmy said, now feeling that Shinobu's worrying has been somewhat validated. The sphere soon faded, revealing Sean within, but seeing him instantly collapse onto the floor brought them to alarm.

In an instant, Motoko was by his side. "Thank goodness," she said, breathing a sigh of relief. "He's still alive." She then turned to Jimmy. "Quick, take him to your house."

"Why my house?" Jimmy asked.

"Because if Shinobu sees him like this, she will go into hysterics. We cannot let that happen. I will meet you there shortly."

Jimmy knew right away that, from the tone of Motoko's voice, now wasn't the time to argue. Wasting no time, he took Sean in his arms and leapt off the roof, in the direction of his house.

"Sean, what happened to you?" Motoko thought as she walked towards her room, trying to look as though nothing had happened. After dropping off her gift, she headed downstairs, en route to the front door. However, her path through the living room would be somewhat interrupted.

"And where are you off to?" Kitsune asked.

"Jimmy's," Motoko simply said, trying to make the fox's interrogation as short as possible. "And you don't need to know why."

"Well," Kitsune said after Motoko left. "She's no fun."

"You really need to stop prying into people's personal lives, you know that?" Naru asked.

"Yeah," Kitsune said, shrugging her shoulders. "Force of habit, I guess. Besides, if I don't ask these questions, who will?"

"There are those questions that just shouldn't be asked," Keitaro said.

Once she was out of sight of her dormmates, Motoko broke out into a run for Jimmy's house, her concern for Sean the only thing on her mind. Not even bothering to knock, she entered the house and went to the living room, where Jimmy and Sean were located. Despite the fact that Sean was laying motionless on the couch, she still tried to keep some optimism. "How is he?" she asked.

"It's like you said before," Jimmy said. "He's still alive. He's not breathing, but I think I know why." He pointed to Sean's chest. "There's energy surrounding his lungs."

"Where could he have ended of that breathing would have been that big a concern?" Motoko asked.

"I don't know," Jimmy said. "But the environment must have played second fiddle to the natives, considering how he reeks of blood right now. The only good thing about that is that the blood isn't his."

"Knowing him, he probably didn't have any other option," Motoko said.

"You're telling me." Motoko and Jimmy had looks of surprise on their faces as they looked at Sean, who then opened his eyes and smiled at them. "Hello there."

"Sean, you're awake!" Motoko said, giving Sean a big hug as soon as he sat up.

"It's good to see you too," Sean said. "I can't believe I actually made it back," he thought. "For a second there, I thought I was done for."

"Where did you go?" Motoko asked after letting go and sitting next to him on the couch.

"This is one of those things that are best left unsaid," Sean said.

"Why?" Jimmy asked.

"Because if I tell you, Shinobu will eventually find out; enough said."

"Are you going to be alright?" Motoko asked. "I mean--"

"I'll be fine," Sean said. "The only injuries I suffered was a bump on the head and a bruised back. Aside from that, I pretty much just overexerted myself. I'll probably stay here a while until I get the energy to head home--one way or another." He didn't mention the attack launched against him during his final departure, but that was mostly because he wasn't exactly sure himself as to what had happened.

"Well, don't wait too long. She's started to worry about you."

"'Starting to'?" Both Sean and Jimmy thought as Motoko got up to leave. "Wait, before I forget," Jimmy said. "Don't open your present until after dinner."

"Why not?" Motoko asked.

"Just because," Jimmy said, grinning like an idiot. "I want to keep you in suspense, Besides, wouldn't you want to wait until it was closer to being actually Valentine's?"

Motoko was initially going to respond to Jimmy's rather weak argument, but then decided to play along. "Alright," she said. "I'll wait."

"Oh man, that's right," Sean thought while the conversation was going on. Apparently, he had just remembered what time of year it was. "I need to get Shinobu something, especially after making her worry about me--again."

"You know," Jimmy said after Motoko left, breaking Sean out of his thoughts. "I'm really ashamed of you. I mean, you went off and killed lots of people for goodness sake!"

"I know," Sean muttered. "If I could have avoided it, I would have, but--"

"That's not why I'm upset," Jimmy said. "I'm upset because you didn't let me come along." He crossed his arms and tried to look as though his feelings had been hurt. "You get to have all the fun."

"Yeah, right," Sean said rolling his eyes. "Being up to my neck and then some in people wanting to see me dead and having the capacity to do just that is not my idea of fun."

Sean would take advantage of the opportunity to take a breather, resting in peace and quiet (or at least as much as Jimmy was willing to give him) for about half an hour before returning to the Hinata-Sou. Naturally, Shinobu was overjoyed to see her boyfriend back. She would be so happy, she did not ask even bother to ask questions as to where he had been. Perhaps it was because she was not sure she wanted to find out, but whatever the reason might have been, Sean was grateful for it.

Meanwhile, and for the next several hours, Motoko would be on pins and needles concerning the gift that Jimmy gave her--the one he forbade her from opening until after dinner. Even though she had given him her word, the suspense only made her want to do it that much more. To keep from losing her resolve, she sought out to find anything and everything that she could use as a distraction. It even came to the point where she volunteered to help Suu with some of her inventions. Despite all this, she did her best to hide her enthusiasm. For her, and for more reasons than one, dinner could not come and go soon enough.

8:59 PM

After finishing the evening meal, Motoko went up to her room as quickly as inconspicuousness would allow. Closing the door behind her, she moved her gaze to her table… and there it was; the box that has practically been taunting her all afternoon. As she walked towards it, she felt that her perseverance made her truly earn her gift. Opening the package, she saw a beautiful red dress inside. In fact, it was one that she had modeled for Jimmy earlier in the day.

At first, Motoko was speechless, mostly because receiving clothes wasn't exactly something she was accustomed to, not even during Christmas and birthdays. Despite her usual reservations concerning her attire, she had admitted to herself that, among everything that she tried on at the mall, the dress she now held was perhaps the one she liked the most--apparently, Jimmy felt the same way.

Motoko was about to go put it on when she noticed a second item in the box. Upon closer inspection, her eyes went wide and a blush spread over her face when she recognized a different article of clothing she wore that day--one she wished never to again. "He actually bought this!" In her disgust, she almost failed to see the note tucked into the lingerie. She snatched it up, half expecting it to be future plans for a meeting and what she should be wearing at that time, but quickly changed her tune as she read it:

"Motoko,

Right now, you're most likely thinking I've gone insane for getting you the lingerie, but please let me explain myself before you come over and try to castrate me. I'd probably be lying if I said I knew everything that was going through your mind while we were in the lingerie store. What I do know is that you're a traditional girl and that brings with it certain morals and ethics.

From my perspective, I can see how trying this on in the store can be humiliating, but I doubt I am doing you justice by saying that. I think one reason why this is is that you were in such a public place at the time. Maybe--and this is just speculation--if you gave it an honest chance in the privacy and comfort of your own room, you would be more thoughtful in your judgment.

Of course, all this might be one man's attempt at flawed logic and you will despise lingerie either way. If that proves to be the case, I will not hold it against you and you can do with it as you see fit.

XXOO,

Jimmy"

"Wow," Motoko said to herself upon finishing. "He actually thought this through." By this time, she actually felt almost obligated to give the accursed garment a second chance. After making sure her door was closed and locked, she stripped down and began putting on the piece of clothing that, in the past, she wouldn't be caught dead in. As she did this, a revelation struck her: Back at the mall, her mind had been so cluttered by her concern for how others might see her, judging her accordingly, that she never took the time to get a good look at herself and give an unbiased opinion of it.

Upon completion, she took a good, long look at herself in the mirror. Much to her initial surprise, the outfit wasn't as revealing as she thought it was going to be, especially considering her prior experiences with lingerie always involved Kitsune in some way, shape or form. No, what she now wore could almost be described as elegant, but it was still something that she would not wear openly in public, if only because of the cat calls and wolf whistles that would follow in her wake.

"I know Jimmy means well," Motoko thought. "And if given time, I might actually come to like this stuff, but right now, it's just not me." She then began to change back into her regular clothes. "My sister was right, though. I really do need to keep myself open to new experiences." Suddenly, another part of the conversation she had with Tsuruko appeared in her mind, sparking a whole new train of thought. "The last time I was at peace…"

Sunday, 2/14 6:53 AM

Shinobu woke up bright and early, as per her usual routine of making breakfast every morning. This morning however, she was in no hurry whatsoever to get out of bed. Perhaps it was because most, if not all of the other residents were still asleep, but a more likely explanation was Alicia snuggled up next to her in bed. She sighed inwardly as she reveled in the bodily contact.

"Oh Sean," Shinobu thought. "No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you always come back to me. I don't know why I worry about you like I do--I guess old habits die hard." Despite the fact that, after Sean returned home the previous day, he spent most of his time in his room, trying to work out something he described to her as "a minor glitch concerning point of entry," Shinobu was happy to know that he was alright.

Shinobu sighed again as she slightly adjusted her position. "I'll never get tired of this--no way, no how." That last thought was referring to the close proximity of Alicia's body to her own. Over time, she developed a habit of sleeping au natural, mostly so that there would be nothing to come in between her and her beloved. All things considering, this is at least one of the purest examples of unconditional love. No matter what form Sean may take, Shinobu's affection for him will still be there.

Turning around, she quickly noted that Alicia was still sleeping soundly. "Yesterday must have taken a lot out of you," she thought. If only she knew. "But I think I know how to wake you up." She then kissed Alicia right on the lips for as long as it took for the older girl to open her eyes.

"And a good morning to you too," Alicia said after they parted. Even though she was still a tad groggy, that didn't stop her from forming a grin on her face.

"Happy Valentine's Day," Shinobu said.

"Likewise," Alicia said before they kissed again.

"I think I know how we can celebrate," Shinobu said, gliding a hand down Alicia's side, stopping at her hips.

"My, somebody's feeling frisky this morning," Alicia said, chuckling a bit.

"Are you saying you don't want to?" Shinobu asked, knowing it was rhetorical.

"Far from it. I think your idea's wonderful and I would like nothing more than to go with it, but I already made plans for us today--and it starts right now."

As Alicia got out of bed and helped Shinobu to her feet, the younger girl couldn't help but wonder what she had set up--that it must be something pretty big to make her willing to pass up sex. She was snapped out of her thoughts when Alicia handed her a blindfold. "What's this for?" she asked without thinking.

"I want this to be a surprise," Alicia said.

Shinobu was a bit unsure about what was going on, but eventually decided to play along and put on the blindfold. Right then, the room became deathly quiet. After two or three minutes, she wondered if Alicia was even in the room anymore. Just as she was about to investigate, she felt hands on her shoulders. "You can look now," Alicia said.

Shinobu quickly removed the blindfold in order to see what surprise Alicia had in store for her--and what a surprise it was. Right away, she knew she wasn't in Hinata-Sou any more, but the issue of greater importance was that of the dozen or so women in the room--and that Shinobu was still naked. In an instant, she hid behind Alicia, her face turning ten shades of red. "Where are we!" she asked frantically.

"We're in the home of the goddesses," Alicia replied calmly. "I'm sure you recognize a couple of them." She then turned her attention to said members of the divine. "Good morning ladies. We didn't keep you waiting, did we?"

"Of course not," Stephanie said. "We're always glad to have you here."

"Sean why are we here!" Shinobu whispered into Alicia's ear. "And why are they all naked!"

"Well, I knew I had to do something for Valentine's," Alicias explained. "Especially after being gone as long as I was yesterday. To answer your second question, they spend every other Sunday together… how should I say this… enjoying each other's company."

"That's putting it lightly," Julie noted.

"As I was saying, at some point yesterday, it came to me that Valentine's came on a Sunday this year, so I called them up to see if it was alright if we joined in."

"To which we happily agreed," Linda said.

It was at that point that Shinobu realized that Alicia had not passed up sex after all. In fact, all that she had been done was take her original idea and move it to a new location; and a much grander scale. "So..." Shinobu said hesitantly. "How long would we be here?"

"All day," Alicia said. "And before you ask, I already left a note for the others saying they won't be seeing us today--and that they'll have to fend for themselves as far as food is concerned."

"I'm not so sure about this," Shinobu said. "I mean, isn't it a bit much for twelve people to have their way with me?"

"You're saying that as though we're going to gang-rape you or something," Stephanie said. "That couldn't be farther from the truth. I can assure you that we won't do any you aren't comfortable with. Sean can attest to this."

"That's right," Alicia said, turning to face Shinobu. "Remember back when they called on me to talk to Amy? Well, this was the reward for my efforts. Believe me, I was as reluctant about this then as you are now, but if I hadn't enjoyed myself as much as I did, I would never have brought you here in the first place." She closed her eyes and sighed before continuing. "Listen, I know I brought all this up rather suddenly, and I don't want to force you into something you don't want to do. If you want to go back, just say the word."

For a while, Shinobu just stood there in silence, letting all of the information process in her mind. While she was glad that Sean had remembered to do something special for Valentine's, this was perhaps the last thing she would have expected. Granted, spending the whole day with her beloved was never something she would give a second thought to, but the addition of the twelve goddesses forced her to put a new perspective on it. However, despite all the uncertainty, Shinobu could only put all her trust in Sean. After all, if he was willing to go through this a second time, much less bring her along for the ride, it must be quite the experience.

Shinobu's final answer would come in the form of a kiss right on the lips. "Does that mean you'll stay?" Alicia asked afterwards.

Shinobu nodded her head confidently. "Let do it." Hand in hand, they walked towards the group of deities, who were more than ready to receive them. For obvious reasons, this would be a day that would not be soon forgotten… but not just for them.

9:47 AM

Unlike the previous day, Jimmy's slumber went by uninterrupted. After going through his usual routine; eating, showering and whatnot, he went into his video game dimension to begin his morning workout--and be somewhat shocked by who was there waiting for him. Sitting in the middle of the main chamber was none other than Motoko, apparently in the midst of meditating. "What is she doing here?" he thought, though he wasn't about to register a complaint any time soon.

As he walked towards the swordswoman, she opened her eyes and gazed in his general direction. "I was beginning to wonder when you were going to arrive."

"How did you get in here without my knowing?" Jimmy asked. Even while asleep, he should have been able to sense, if not hear Motoko going through his house.

"Sean sent me here last night using that spell he was working on. It took a bit of convincing to get him to do it."

"I can imagine," Jimmy added. He knew that, after what had happened (or sat least what he assumed had happened), Sean probably would not have been too eager to use Plane Shift again for a while. "Do you want to get something to eat before we start?"

"That will not be necessary," Motoko said. "Ever since I arrived, I have not felt hungry. Perhaps it is the way this world works."

"Huh." Jimmy was intrigued by this, as he had never considered the possibility that the dimension Sean crafted for him had such a trait contained within. Nevertheless, he chose to delve into it at a later time, as there was more… important matters to attend to. "Alright then," he said. "Let's get started, shall we?"

"Of course," Motoko said. "After all, that is what I came here for." With that, they entered one of the training rooms and began sparring, like they have done so many times before, but for Jimmy, there was something a bit off about it. As the battle wore on, he couldn't help but think that Motoko was fighting with a greater passion than usual, which, considering her, is saying quite a bit. It was almost as though she had a specific objective of some sort that she was trying to accomplish. Then again, he might have been thinking too much into it, and that she was simply just blowing off steam from the mall incident the previous day.

Aside from that, there was also the issue of the strange energy Jimmy kept sensing over in the far corner of the room. Every time he looked in that direction, he found nothing, but he knew something--or maybe, someone--was there. This little development might have made him more concerned had it not been so miniscule that it couldn't pose a threat if it tried.

Meanwhile, Motoko could not be more focused if she tried. During her meditation, she studied Jimmy's fighting style in such a way that would have rivaled Naru and Keitaro. Her intent wasn't exactly to defeat her boyfriend outright, but for openings to possible manipulation. Yes, this doesn't make a whole lot of sense right now, but all will become clear soon enough.

After a few minutes, the two separated to give each other a bit of a rest before continuing. During this time, Jimmy couldn't help but notice the look Motoko was giving him. In place of her usual poker face was a grin that made it almost seem like she was giving him an honest chance to quit. Of course, Jimmy would never do anything of the sort. In fact, all this served to do was reaffirm his suspicion that she had something planned. "So it's going to be like that, is it?" he thought. "Well, let's just see what you have up your sleeve, shall we?"

Without warning, Jimmy charged forward, raising his sword for an overhead strike, which was quickly and easily blocked by Motoko. After a momentary standoff, she parried the attack, grabbing onto Jimmy's shirt as she did so, leaving no room for a follow up. At first, Jimmy was curious about Motoko's unorthodox tactic, but his attention suddenly became diverted by an energy spike behind him. From the far corner of the room, the energy that seemed almost dormant came to life, presenting itself as a very real threat as it screamed towards Jimmy…

(The previous night…)

"The last time I was at peace…" For Motoko, that one phrase began her introspection. Looking back, she contemplated what her life has become, putting the most focus on the period of time in which Sean has been a part of it. After about half an hour, it all came together. Her memories told her of a time before she ever met Jimmy. Back then, she actually took the time to enjoy life somewhat. This was also the period where she was having her intimate relations with a certain landlord/mage, but that only served to drive the point hime.

"It was a simpler time for me back then," Motoko said to herself. "…for what it's worth, anyway. After everything that has happened in recent years, I can honestly say that I have little, if any regrets." She looked over at the lingerie that Jimmy had given her just hours earlier. "What he did today crossed a boundary or two that I wasn't prepared for. If he is willing to do such things in order to try to further our relationship, then I must be willing to do the same. The problem is, what could I do at this point?"

From that point on, Motoko tried to come up with things to do for Jimmy the next day. Possible ideas included various gifts, but none of them seemed to fit the bill. Just when she was about to give up the search, she had an epiphany, and a plan began to take shape--one centered around a technique she accidentily picked up while in an altered state of mind…

* * *

"What the hell!" Jimmy thought as the wave of energy speeded in his general direction. Under normal circumstances, he would have easily evaded the attack, but here and now, there was no way he could have done it that didn't involve either ripping his shirt and/or leaving Motoko directly in the line of fire. Bracing for impact, he was more than a little surprised to feel the potentially dangerous energy pass right by, leaving him completely unharmed. All in all, it felt like nothing more than a gust of wind.

In his confusion, he was left unprepared for when Motoko placed a hand on the back of his head and pulled him into a passionate kiss. It was then that he fully realized what the objectives were--both that of Motoko being there in the first place and of the move that had been used against him. Well, it was used on both of them really, as it left them without a stitch of clothing on them.

Now, being the red-blooded American male that he is, Jimmy knew well enough what this would eventually lead to--not that has going to try to stop it or anything. Despite this, there was one thing that still nagged at his mind. All he needed was the opportunity to clear things up, which came when their lips finally separated. "Hey, how did--" His question was interrupted by Motoko placing a couple fingers to his lips.

"Now isn't the time for that," Motoko said.

"Fair enough," Jimmy said before they got down to business. "But you will owe me an explanation later."

End of Chapter LVIII

And there you have it. Hopefully, the next one won't be quite as long-winded. On a side note, how did you like the ending I thought up, Jimmy? Not exactly what you expected, was it? If it was... well, whatever. Please R&R, everyone! FYI: The sexual content should be close to nonexistent over the next few chapters.


	62. Ch59: Lunar Prophecies

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH. 

Chapter LIX: Lunar Prophecies

(Wednesday, 3/3 7:30 AM)

"You won't beat me this time!"

"That's what you think! Prepare to meet your maker!"

"Not if I have anything to do about it!"

Such was the usual banter of Suu and Sarah as they played some fighting game, as per their usual morning routine. The look of intensity on both girls' faces made it easy to see that they took such things very seriously. They seemed almost entranced as their hands expertly manipulated their respective controllers until the final blow was struck.

"YEAH!" Suu cheered, pumping her fists in triumph. "That makes four in a row!"

"I bet I can keep you from making five," Sarah challenged.

"Bring it on!" The image on the screen quickly changed to the character selection menu. The two combatants were just about to begin the match anew when a sound came from the far end of the room, instantly drawing Suu's attention.

"Hey, what's up?" Sarah asked as she watched Suu get up. The younger blonde was somewhat agitated that something had interrupted her attempt at vengeance, but was still curious as to what it was.

Meanwhile, Suu recognized the noise in an instant: One of her printers had just kicked in. The system she had set up called for only those messages she deemed important to automatically print without letting her know beforehand. Therefore, the information that had just been delivered to her was well worth her time.

Walking over to where the printer was housed and snatched up the document and began reading its contents. As she did so, an emotionless expression appeared on her face. Knowing Suu, this was an extremely rare event; a fact that wasn't lost on Sarah. "What could do that to her?" she thought. "I mean, she looks almost like Motoko for crying out loud!"

Seeing her friend in such a state--not to mention that she was being effectively ignored at this point--forced Sarah to voice her feelings out loud. "Hey, Suu," she said. "What are you reading?" When she got no response, her anger began to rise, as did the volume of her voice. "Hey, you awake!"

Suu glanced in Sarah's direction. "Oh, sorry," she said, a grin returning to her face, but it had a bit less to it than usual. "I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

"Well, if you're done, I still have to end your winning streak."

Suu shook her head. "Nah, I think I done playing for now. Besides, breakfast should be starting pretty soon. You go on ahead; I'll be down in a minute."

Begrudgingly, Sarah left the room, leaving Suu alone. It was then that she became serious again and gazed at the paper she held in her hand. "So it happens tonight," she said with a sigh. "This never gets easier." Stashing the paper away in a file cabinet, she headed out to eat breakfast, but stopped short of reaching the dining room. "Time to put on my happy face," she thought. "Hey, guys!" she said cheerfully as she entered and took her seat at the table. "Sorry I was late. There was something I needed to take care of."

"Suu being late for a meal," Sean said. "Sounds like a sign of the apocalypse, doesn't it?"

"It does," Motoko responded.

"Seems appropriate," Keitaro added. "Suu bringing about the end of the world."

"Oh, come on," Suu said. "My inventions aren't that dangerous." That got her a bunch of blank stares. "Right, never mind." While on the outside, Suu was her usual self, the inside was anything but. "I hope I don't have to keep this up for too long," she thought.

Breakfast came and went in a typical fashion. Afterwards, along with Shinobu, Sean set about cleaning the dishes. While doing this, something would be brought to his attention.

"Sean, may I talk with you for a moment?"

The landlord turned to find the resident swordswoman standing in the doorway. "Of course, Motoko," he said. "What about?"

"If I can, I would like to speak with you alone," Motoko said.

Sean and Shinobu looked at each other for a moment. "You go ahead and get ready for school," Sean eventually said. "I can finish up here."

"Alright," Shinobu said, drying off her hands and skipping out of the room.

Motoko made sure there was nobody else around before approaching Sean. "I did not want to alert the others about this," she said. Sean nodded in understanding, signaling her to proceed. "Did you notice anything… different about Suu this morning?"

"Nothing besides being late for breakfast," Sean said. "But I done enough experiments to know they can be quite time consuming."

"Yes, well, as true as that may be, I believe there may be more to this. She may have acted the same as she always does, but I noticed a certain look in her eye. Something is troubling her, I just know it. You can understand why I am telling you this."

"Yeah, I do," Sean said. "Thank you for letting me know."

"What do you plan to do?" Motoko asked.

"For now, nothing. We all have our problems. If she wants to talk to someone about it, that's her decision to make. Until then, unless her behavior becomes self-destructive, I won't interfere. For all we know, she may just be having difficulties with one of her inventions of something; that has happened before."

"You are right," Motoko said. "One must never assume too much. I will be sure to notify you if anything further develops."

"I would expect nothing less," Sean said. "It can't be that simple," he thought after Motoko took her leave. "If it was an issue with an invention, Suu wouldn't be hiding it. Heck, last time, she let everyone know there was a problem. Of course, it was all too obvious, since we all heard the explosion beforehand, but that's beside the point. For Suu to actually keep something from us like this, provided Motoko is right about that, it must be something major. I can only imagine…"

The rest of the morning went by without any weird events--at least, no more so than usual. Despite this, Sean found himself wanting to read Suu's mind to find what, if anything, was causing her grief, but was somehow able to resist. The main force behind that decision was his abhorrence of invading someone's privacy in such a way. For him, the time for her, along with the other girls and Keitaro to head off for school could not come soon enough, giving him the opportunity to clear his mind; and there was always one sure-fire way to accomplish that.

Ever since his battle with Tsuruko, Sean took strides towards developing battle magic. Despite how much progress he thought he had made since then, his two encounters with the Darklord armies proved that improvements still needed to be made, as he didn't walk away from either battle. With this in mind, he made the transition from training in his own custom-made arena to the video game world to fight living (at least in a manner of speaking) opponents.

Being the fan of old school that he was, he always went into games from the old Nintendo and Super Nintendo systems. Series such as Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda and even Mega Man have all been employed as a training ground at one time or another. On this day, the latter of these was chosen. What with all the gaps to jump and ladders to climb, Mega Man games have proven to be more of an endurance exercise than anything else, especially when one tries to get through an entire game all at once.

(11:20 AM)

"Oh man," Sean said between breaths as he laid on the ground, exhausted. "No matter how many times I do this stage, it never gets easier." He had just defeated Tomahawk Man (MM6) moments before. For Sean, even from the outside, that particular boss had always had its difficulties. "It never ceases to amaze me," he said, looking around at the boss's lair. "Just how this place looks on the inside--especially when you add that third dimension."

When he was able to sit up, Sean looked towards where his watch should be, forgetting for that brief moment that he had converted his left arm into an arm cannon for the duration. "It's about time I had a break for lunch anyway," he thought. After conjuring up a meal, his thoughts turned towards the remaining stages and which order he should do them in. By the time he finished eating, he had settled on a plan of action, but just when he was about to head out, he head the sound of a ringing phone inside his head. "Wow, what timing," he thought. "Hello, Hinata-Sou Apartments, how may I help you?" Sean said, answering the call.

"Hello, this is Mr. Akashi," the man on the other line said.

"Oh, hey," Sean said, instantly recognizing the name of one of the instructors at the high school. This brought to mind the last time he called, not to mention the reason behind it. "Please don't tell me Suu blew up the science lab again."

"Thankfully, that is not why I am calling," Mr. Akashi said. "However, this does involve Suu."

"In what way?" Sean asked.

"Well, this morning, in class, her mind seemed to be elsewhere."

"That's no surprise," Sean said. "You must know as well as I do how hard it can be to maintain her attention."

"You are correct in your assumption. Most days, I find her writing down notes. Something tells me it is something I do not want to know about."

"Smart man," Sean thought, grinning.

"But today," the teacher continued. "She seemed more… how should I say this… calm. For most of class, she just sat there, staring out the window."

"That does seem odd," Sean said. "Thank you for telling me. I'll look into it when she gets home. Until then, I suggest you not bring it up."

"Agreed," Mr. Akashi said.

"Well," Sean said to himself after he hung up. "This just keeps getting more interesting. I guess I'll be investigating it sooner than I thought. It's just as well; the sooner it gets taken care of, the sooner Suu returns to her normal self." As he stood up, a thought occurred to him. "Is that really such a goods thing? Oh well, I'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Until then, there are other matters to attend to…" With that, he vanished, off to take down Yamato Man.

(---)

Ever since her brief chat, with Sean, Motoko became a silent observer of Suu's behavior, though she made sure to be covert, so as not to arouse suspicion. During her surveillance, she began coming up with any and all thing that might be plaguing the young inventor's mind. As far as she new, Sean was the only other person aware of what was going on. Perhaps Suu attained the ability to hide her feelings from being around Motoko for as long as she has, but that is a topic for another time.

Motoko's watchful eye was still trained on Suu even on the trip back to Hinata-Sou, where she intended to update Sean on her findings. However, she would not get the chance.

(3:35 PM)

"We're home!" Suu announced as she walked in the front door, followed shortly thereafter by Shinobu and Motoko.

"Hey," Kitsune called back from her seat on the living room couch. "How was school?"

"It was fine," Shinobu said.

"Yeah," Suu added. "You're lucky you don't have to go to school like we do."

"That's what you think," Kitsune shot back. "Not being in school means having to get a job. Enjoy this life while you can."

Motoko nodded in agreement to this. Being a senior in high school, she knew there were important decisions to make in the near future. She was just about to head upstairs when she noticed Suu looking off in a seemingly random direction. "Suu?" Motoko asked.

"The heavens are calling me," Suu said before bounding off towards the stairs, giggling the entire way.

"Sean must have used telepathy," Shinobu commented.

Motoko didn't respond, as she just stared at where Suu left the room, wondering how she didn't sense the blatant use of magic.

Meanwhile, Suu opened Sean's door to find the landlord sitting at his table. "You wanted to see me?" she asked.

"Yes," Sean responded. "Have a seat."

Suu closed the door behind her as she walked towards the table. "You don't communicate like that often," she said.

"I know," Sean said. "I probably would have been in the living room to meet you, but I doubt I'd be able to get down there on my own two feet. In fact, I'm not sure if I'd be able to stand right now."

Suu didn't have to ask to know what Sean was up to. "Which game were you in?" she asked.

"Mega Man 6."

"Nice," Suu said, nodding in approval. Despite it being a video game, she always held the creations of Dr. Wily in high regard--and understandably so. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

In the fifteen minutes since he emerged from the video game world, he found himself unable to figure out how to ease into his intended conversation. Therefore, he decided to just be blunt and to the point. "This morning, Motoko noticed something a bit… off."

"What do you mean?" Suu asked, a look of curiosity on her face.

"According to her, there looked to be something on your mind; we both know her track record as far as that's concerned."

Suu just shrugged her shoulders. "Maybe Motoko's having an off day or something."

"Maybe, but that doesn't explain your teacher calling me with a similar message." Suu found herself unable to look Sean in the eye at this point. "Listen, I'm not forcing you to do anything, but it may be in your best interest to tell me what's going on."

"Why did it have to come to this?" Suu thought. "Motoko's starting to catch on, even my teacher is taking notice and Sean knows by association. At this rate, it's only a matter of time before the others find me out. I guess it's about time I get this off my chest, and I'd rather face Sean in private than everyone at once."

"Alright," Suu said, having made her decision. "But not now. Meet me on the roof after dinner tonight. I'll tell you everything then." She then stood up and headed for the door, but stopped short. "Oh, and make sure you aren't followed," she said before left for her own room, sitting at the base of one of the trees as soon as she did so. "When it comes to technology, I can do almost anything I set my mind to," she thought with a sigh. "Why must things like this be so hard?"

Shortly after Suu left Sean's room, Motoko arrived, upon which time Sean let her know what had just transpired. He also told her point blank that she may have to be left in the dark about what will be said later that night. Motoko found this a bit difficult to accept at first, but later decided that it was probably for the best.

Dinner that evening went by like clockwork, which included Suu devouring her food in record time; something that was noted only by those who had a reason to pay attention to the inventor's actions. When Sean finished eating and put his dishes away, he went up to the roof platform, where he found Suu, staring off into space.

"I couldn't have planned this better if I tried," Suu thought as she gazed at the cloud-filled sky, completely unaware of Sean's presence until she saw him appear next to her.

"Are you ready?" Sean asked.

"Yeah," Suu answered. "But before I begin, I want you to clear that area of clouds over there."

"May I ask why?" Sean asked.

"You'll see."

Initially, Sean wondered why Suu was putting off her explanation, but figured that if it would get the ball rolling, then he should comply with her request. Focusing on where Suu had pointed moments before, the clouds began to part until he could see the moon in all its glory; full and glowing a pale red. "Well," he thought out loud. "You don't see that every day.

"Don't be so sure." Sean turned his gaze back to Suu and proceeded to do a double-take when he saw the transformation that had come over her. It looked as though she had gone from age 16 to 21 in an instant.

"Um, care to explain that?" Sean asked.

"Where I come from," Suu began. "The red moon appears on a regular basis--almost nightly, in fact. For most people, it would be just a cool effect and nothing more, but for me and those back home, it holds a much greater significance."

"I can see why," Sean commented.

"When someone from my country reaches puberty, then become subject to the transformation effect you now see before you. Unfortunately for me, my first time experiencing this was not on my native soil."

"You mean…?" Sean asked, knowing the answer.

"I had only lived here for three weeks when it happened," Suu said. "Even though I have seen it happen many times in my youth, I'm sure you can imagine my surprise. Naturally, I thought the others would freak if they saw me like that, so I locked myself in my room for the night. I quickly learned that here in Japan, the crimson moon appears only a couple times a year, so I set up a system that would notify me on such days, allowing me to plan accordingly."

"And today was one of those days," Sean said, putting the pieces together.

"Yes. After it happened couple times and, later on, being prepared for it ahead of time allowed me to grow accustomed to it all, but there's still one part of it that still gets to me."

"It reminds you of home," Sean deduced.

"Right. Every time, it makes me long to return; to see my family and friends again."

"Then why don't you?" Sean asked. "You can always go back for a visit. It's not like we don't have the means."

"That's just it," Suu responded. "If I go back, I may not want to return here. Either that or my parents may not want to see me leave again." Suu sighed heavily before continuing. "Back home, I always slept with either my parents, my brother or my sister, so when I arrived here, even subconsciously, I felt the need for nighttime companionship. I initially chose Kitsune for the role, but after sending to the hospital for cracked ribs, that didn't last long. Fortunately, Motoko came soon after and I latched onto her the first chance I got. Sure, she didn't seem to mind my company and she had the physical stamina to get through the night without serious injury, but I couldn't help but feel I was being a burden. Since then, I have spent every night alone in my room. Most of the time, I can keep my mind occupied with my inventions, in progress and otherwise, but there are those time where I can't stop myself from thinking of home and how I miss it dearly. Nights like this only make it worse. Out of everyone here, you're probably the only one who knows what I've had to go through."

"I know more than you realize," Sean said.

"What?" Suu asked, not expecting that last remark.

"Even though I have lived there longer than anywhere else, I do not originally hail from Myrtle Beach."

"You don't?"

"No," Sean said. "I'm originally from a city in the Midwest." He stared out at the city lights below as he continued, with Suu listening intently. "I was never one of the popular kids, but I did have a couple friends and I enjoyed the time I spent with them. When I was 8, my family moved to a different part of town, forcing me to go to a different school and leaving them behind, though we did contact each other a couple times. I bounced back quickly, making new friends in a relatively short time.

"Things seemed to be going pretty well from that point until my parents made the announcement that we'd be moving to Myrtle Beach when I was 11. As if that wasn't bad enough, I couldn't even finish out the school year, since we left in late March. Those two months I spent in a South Carolina elementary school would prove to be the worst time of my life."

"Worse than your first two weeks here?" Suu asked, surprised by Sean somewhat bold statement. She would be even more so by his response.

"Barely. The saying that kids can be so cruel fit my classmates to a T. Granted, they didn't hurt me physically, but what they did do was much worse. I don't know why, whether it was because I was the new guy, my accent was different or the fact that I was usually the first one to class and, therefore, the first to the computer, but whatever the reason, but they made no attempt to be friends whatsoever. In fact, it was the exact opposite. On more than one occasion, they even went so far as to bar the door to keep only me out. Not a soul at that school seemed to care about my well-being, teacher included; I couldn't say the same thing here."

"You're kidding," Suu said, shocked at the complete and utter disregard for human emotion.

"I wish I was. Over the next few years, I felt that if nobody else cared about what happened to me, then I shouldn't either. As a result, my grades took a nosedive. Aside from a few bright spots, I basically became the kind of guy who only put in enough effort not to fail. In the 8th grade everything came to a head as my thoughts and actions turned suicidal. To this day, I'm not sure if I was really trying to do myself in or just trying to get attention--though it didn't work either way."

"Wow," Suu thought. "He's been through so much. The things that have happened to him here is just icing on the cake."

"Thankfully," Sean continued. "I was able to pull myself out of it soon enough to get a high GPA in high school and get through college. If I hadn't, there's no telling where I'd be right now. Definitely not here, that's for sure." His eyes turned to Suu--and got a look of sympathy in return. "Sorry," he said, grinning a bit. "I got a little long-winded there. I guess the point I was trying to make was that while you only had to bear the loss once, I had to do it three times over--and gain some enemies along the way without even trying."

"No, I should be the one who's sorry," Suu said. "If only I had known what you had to go through before you met us, I might not have been so rough on you."

"Don't worry about it," Sean said. "What's done is done. Besides, I doubt I would have gotten much sympathy from Naru or Motoko."

"You're probably right," Suu said. "You know, listening to you made me fell a bit better about my own situation."

"Glad I could help," Sean said, getting the conversation back on its original track. "I know you miss your family, and if you want, I could sent you home to pay them a visit sometime. Heck, maybe we could all come along and make a vacation out of it like we did a couple years ago. Would you like that?"

"Yeah." Without warning, Suu caught Sean in an embrace. "Thank you," she said. "I feel so much better now that everything's out in the open."

"You're welcome," Sean said, returning the favor. While this was going on, the clouds regained complete supremacy of the skies, causing Suu to turn back to normal. Sean noticed this in an instant. "Too tight, too tight," he said.

"Oh," Suu said releasing him, only then realizing she was 16 again. "Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

"I think we all know that," Sean said. "Look, since you hate being alone at night, why don't you sleep in my room tonight?"

Suu's eyes lit up. "You mean it!"

"Sure." Sean wasn't used to having magic active while he slept, but he knew he'd have to have his shield up to prevent Suu from squeezing him to death. As she skipped off, a thought occurred to him. "Hey, Suu."

"Yeah?"

"Just where are you from, anyway?"

"A place you've never heard of," Suu said before she disappeared downstairs.

"…Alrighty then." Sean said as he followed in Suu's wake.

Motoko would stop Sean as he walked by her room. "So?" she asked.

"Homesick," Sean said simply.

"Is that all?" Motoko asked.

"That's enough, trust me."

"I wonder what he meant by that," Motoko thought as Sean walked off.

End of Chapter LIX

When I first came up with this chapter, it was going to be part 4 of the "I need sex, please help me" series, but I think this version turned out better. Just so you know, there was no exaggeration in what I said. Also, for those of you who HAVE to know, I used to live in Bismarck, North Dakota. This one was a break from the action, but trust me, business will pick up real soon. See you then! Please R&R!

Next chapter: Much Ado about Pussy


	63. Ch60: Much Ado About Pussy

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH.

(awkward silence)

Chapter LX: Much Ado about Pussy

Throughout the world, a set schedule has been put into place. People get out of bed, go to work, school or some combination of the two, return home and go to sleep, only to wake up the next morning and begin the cycle anew. Most are aware of the rut they have found themselves in, but many lack the means to pursue a change in lifestyle. Even for those who do, there is still the distinct possibility that, should things go awry, it will not be possible to return his or her life to what it once was.

However, there have been instances where such changes were not voluntary ones. When this happens, those involved have little choice but to adapt--or at least make an attempt to do so. Nowhere is this more true than at the Hinata-Sou Girl's Dormitory, whose inhabitants have endured more curve balls in the span of three years than most people have in a lifetime. This is a trend that will not be ending any time soon…

--- Friday, 4/23 8:45 AM

"Thank you for breakfast," Motoko said, having just finished said meal. "It was delicious as always."

"Mm hmm." Shinobu barely acknowledged the swordswoman's compliment. It wasn't that she was actively ignoring the praise--Heaven forbid. Rather, it was because her mind was focused on other matters. During the entire meal, the other magic user in the house was tracing his finger across the dining room table. The others did not appear to take notice of this, but to Shinobu it was all too familiar. Because of this, she skipped right past the first question in the natural progression and went right to the second. "How long this time?" she asked out of the blue.

"Hmm?" Sean said, having just been jarred out of his thoughts. "What was that?"

"I know you have another spell going through that mind of yours," Shinobu said. "How long will it take to make this one?"

"Here we go again," Naru thought. She as much as anyone knew that the resident cook didn't exactly enjoy the periods of time during which Sean would lock himself away in his room, working on one spell or another.

"Not long," Sean said.

"How can I be sure?" Shinobu asked. "Last time, outside of meals, I didn't see you for a week! You still never told me what it was you were doing in there! How many times do you expect me to deal with this?"

"I'm not making a spell from scratch this time," Sean explained. "All I plan on doing is combining a couple of old spells together and making a few… minor tweaks to it. I should be able to complete it by the end of the day."

"I wish I could believe that. For the longest time, I have been patient with you and your experiments, but lately, I feel like you're shutting me out of your life; like you don't want me around sometimes."

"That couldn't be farther from the truth," Sean said. "Listen, we all have hobbies; things we enjoy doing and take some personal pride in. Motoko and Jimmy have their martial arts, you have your culinary skills and I have magic. Ideas for new spells are always popping up in my head. I know from personal experience that if these ideas don't get purged, they'll just stay there. Eventually, my mind would get so cluttered with them that it becomes all I can think about and I'd end up isolating myself in my room for a month or more--something neither of us want.

"As for not including you in my research, I just didn't want to drag you into something that doesn't interest you as much as it does me. It's kind of like how you don't bring to the kitchen every time you have a new recipe. Plus, if you spent all your time helping, or even observing me, there wouldn't be as much time for more important things like your schoolwork for example. I didn't want you to sacrifice things like that for my sake."

For a few moments, Shinobu was speechless. She could only venture a guess as to how long Sean had that argument prepared. Whether it was minutes, months or more, it served its purpose. Nevertheless, there was one thing that still nagged in her mind. "Could you at least tell me what you'll be working on?"

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that," Sean said, at first appearing to avoid the question. "If everything goes as planned, you'll find out exactly what I'm doing tomorrow. If you'll excuse me…" He then went to go freshen up before settling down to work. At about the same time, Shinobu gathered up the dishes and took them to the kitchen, leaving everyone else to mull over what they have just heard.

"They are such a cute couple, don't you think?" Mutsumi asked.

"To me, it seems like their relationship is a bit shaky of late," Motoko said.

"Oh, please," Kitsune said. "As if you and Jimmy never argued about anything." Motoko suddenly found herself unable to look the fox in the eye. "That's what I thought."

"I wonder what Sean meant by 'you'll find out tomorrow'?" Keitaro thought out loud. "Something about that just doesn't sit right with me."

"I don't think there's anything to worry about," Suu said. "He didn't do that evil laugh of his this time. Shouldn't that be a good sign?"

"That's beside the point, Suu," Naru added. "Keitaro's right. I think we should be on our guard tomorrow. There's no telling what might happen."

"I agree," Motoko said.

"Wait," Mustumi said. "What Sean's planning can't be dangerous."

"And why is that, Miss Expert?" Kitsune asked.

"Because he would never do anything to hurt any of us, especially Shinobu. If this was as dangerous as you think it might be, he wouldn't be demonstrating it--at least not here."

"You make a good point," Kitsune said. "But we should still be on the lookout for anything weird that may happen."

"Uh, Kitsune…" Naru said. "In case you don't remember, something weird is ALWAYS happening around here."

"Um… let's just stay the course then." Kitsune's attempt at a recovery was met by groans, sighs and the rolling of eyes. "Come on girl, you're better than this!" she thought. "You can't just let it end like this!" She looked around the table, quickly taking note that everyone was staring off into space--no doubt contemplating what Sean latest venture could be. Seeing this, she saw an opportunity and decided to take it. "You know," she said. "Don't you all have school to get ready for?" A collective gasp and a rush of wind later, Kitsune was the only one left in the dining room, chuckling to herself. "Not matter what," she thought. "I always get the last laugh."

Minutes turned into hours. Trips were made both to and from school. All the while, the residents of Hinata-Sou could not keep their thoughts away from Sean's experiments for too long. Nowhere was this more prevalent than in the mind of Shinobu, knowing that the final result would not be kept secret; at least not this time.

The next time anyone would see Sean would be at dinnertime. The entire time, he was practically mute, disclosing not the slightest hint regarding his exploits. This proceeded to make him the sole focus of everyone's attention.

That night, Shinobu found it difficult to get to sleep. Not only was it because of her anticipation of what Sean's latest spell, but also what was going on in said wizard's room next door--or rather, what wasn't going on. In most cases, she could hear him muttering some incomprehensible jargon through the wall, but within an hour after dinner, he fell silent. She found this very disconcerting, growing more anxious with every passing minute. It was with only a force of will--magically aided--that she was finally able to drift off to dreamland.

While Sean was telling the truth when he said Shinobu would learn of his latest exploits, another would find out before her…

--- Saturday, 4/24 6:25 AM

When one gets into a routine, it might get to the point where conscious thought in that regard is no longer necessary. Nowhere was this more true than for the resident swordswoman. Her mind still half-asleep, she got out of bed headed over to her dresser to prepare herself for her morning exercises. Along the way, she couldn't help but feel that something was slightly… off; like her room had gotten bigger somehow. She didn't think much of it and continued her journey, but something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Turning her head, what she then saw woke her up with a start and effectively preempted her usual schedule.

"This cannot be real," Motoko thought. "This has to be a dream." But it wasn't a dream; and she had to accept the cold reality that, while she slept, she had been transformed into a cat. Her newly acquired fur matched the hair she had as a human, along with the delicate sheen it possessed in the early morning light. All things considered, had she not been the size of an ordinary housecat, she would have easily been classified as a panther.

Upon further inspection, she saw a collar around her neck with a tag engraved with her initials. She didn't have to recognize the handwriting to know who was responsible for her current situation.

"Sean…" she thought. "So this is what you were up to this whole time." She was fairly certain that she was not the only one altered in this way, but that alone did not make Sean's actions just. With that in mind, Motoko turned for the door, quickly noticing that it had been opened just enough to save her the time and effort it would have taken to do it herself. "I should remember to thank him for the convenience after I deal him his punishment."

Entering the hallway, Motoko's path led her to Sean's room. Along the way, she took note that doors to the other tenants' rooms have been left open as well. Peering inside, her thoughts were confirmed; that the others have all been subject to Sean's magical mischief. Even she had to admit that the sight of them curled up on their respective futons was adorable, but she knew that the peace surrounding them would only last as long as they slept.

When Motoko reached Sean's room, she went inside without a moment's hesitation. Unlike the other rooms, this one turned out to be uninhabited. "Where has he gone off to?" she wondered. "If he thinks he can hide from me, he has another thing coming."

Deciding to begin her hunt on the ground floor, she headed down the stairs by way of the handrail. From her perch at the bottom of said rail, she surveyed her surroundings, contemplating her search pattern. That's when she saw a cat, somewhat tiger-striped, sleeping on the living room table. Even though she had never seen it before in her life, its aura spoke volumes. "There you are," Motoko thought, instantly recognizing Sean's wavelength.

Indeed, being another species did not dull her senses in the slightest, but that was perhaps the farthest thing from her mind at this point. Under normal circumstances, she probably would have made her presence known being moving in, but her feline instincts called for a more stealthy approach--one that, despite her efforts, did not go unnoticed.

Sean's ears perked up. He didn't know what the sound was, but apparently, it was enough to, at least partially, rouse him from his slumber. Opening his eyes slightly, he saw a black blur though the haze of his own mind. "Oh, it's just Motoko," he thought, closing his eyes again. Moments later, that information was fully processed in his brain and his eyes shot open. "MOTOKO!" He rolled to the side just in time to avoid getting pounced on. Establishing a telepathic link between them, he said the first thing that came to mind--something he would regret immediately thereafter. "Motoko, what did you wake me up for!"

Motoko's fur stood on end; just one sign of many indicating her anger. "It is not me who has explaining to do." Even telepathically, her voice sounded like she was talking through her teeth. "What have you done to us?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sean knew he was treading very dangerous territory, especially when he took note that Motoko's claws had emerged; something she wouldn't hesitate to use if the mood struck her.

"Yes, too much so." Motoko stalked towards Sean. "As will be what I shall do to you if you do not tell me why you did this."

"Um, okay then," Sean said, backing away a bit. "For a while, I have taken strides toward exploring different ways of viewing the world. You have seen me alter my perspective, my size, even my gender. The next logical step was species."

"That still does not explain why you changed all of us," Motoko said.

"I guess… I guess, for once, I didn't want to be alone in this. So many times, I have experimented with magic and, with few exceptions, I have been the only one to gain anything from it. Shinobu has felt… left out in that regard--for longer than you know--so I decided to make her a part of it; and you and the others as well."

"I suppose that makes sense," Motoko said, calming down.

"Besides, there would be no telling what Suu would do to me if she found me like this and she was still human herself."

"If that were the case, you could have turned yourself back."

Sean shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I have this spell on a timer. Not even I can end it prematurely."

"And just how long was this timer set for?" Motoko asked.

Sean hesitated a bit before answering--no doubt dreading the response it would receive. "Twenty-four hours."

"What! We are stuck like this all day?"

"I'm afraid so," Sean said.

"This is just wonderful," Motoko muttered. "How am I supposed to do my training now?"

"I'm sure you'll think of something."

A thought suddenly occurred to Motoko. "What will Jimmy do if he sees me like this!"

"I guess that all depends on how well he like cats," Sean said. "Now, if you're done being pessimistic, I'll be going back to sleep now. I was up past two in the morning and I would like get some more shut-eye before the others wake up."

"It took you that long for you to make that spell?" Motoko asked in disbelief.

"No, but it took that long to cast it. Of course, I could have done it in mere moments, but there would have been an all-too-real risk of you waking up while the change was taking place. Somehow, I doubt you would have been as… rational if that were the case."

"You certainly have a point there," Motoko said. "I shall let you rest. The other tenants would most likely want to get their licks in as well." She then turned back towards the stairs.

"Hold on," Sean called out. "There's one more thing I want to say."

"What might that be?" Motoko asked.

"You should consider yourself lucky I turned us into cats. My second choice would have been bunny rabbits. What would you have done then?"

Motoko pondered the question for barely a moment. "I would probably try to kick your head in." She then went upstairs unhindered.

"I figured as much," Sean thought before drifting back to sleep.

The reactions of the others varied somewhat from person to person. Some took the change in stride; namely Mutsumi, Suu and especially Shinobu, who's first coherent sentence after realization set in was, verbatim, "I look so CUTE!" On the other hand, Kitsune, Keitaro and Naru were all deeply upset at Sean, not only because of what he had done, but also the abruptness of it. Despite this, they showed more restraint than Motoko did… if only marginally so.

When everyone had gathered in the living room to either praise Sean or chew him out for his efforts, he delivered a speech that was eerily similar to the one he gave back when his tenure as manager was a mere two weeks. The same calming affect then was achieved now--this time without the following guilt trip and attempt at suicide.

After the issue of food was put to rest (naturally, thanks to the mind and talents of a certain adolescent cook), everyone set off to explore their new forms and the traits that went with them. First and foremost was Motoko, who spent much of the morning (including the period of time between her encounter with Sean and when everyone woke up), she engaged herself in what was perhaps the closest she could get to her usual training routine, performing any and all feasible feats of acrobatics she could come up with. After a while, she began to secretly hope that someday, if she asked really nicely, Sean might consider turning her into a full-sized jungle cat.

Meanwhile, the exploits of the others were less… serious. With the sole exception of Kitsune, who found herself sunning on a windowsill (therefore, her usual day did not change a great deal), everyone played in the living room like the cats they have become. Even Naru and Keitaro, who normally distanced themselves from the goings on of the other residents, joined in. Then again, given the current circumstances, their range of choices was fairly limited.

In the midst of the calm, if not more relaxed atmosphere, someone should have recalled that such things have always been short-lived.

--- 1:20 PM

"Sometimes I wonder where they get all their energy from," Motoko muttered. The antics of the others have only been interrupted once due to growling stomachs--even then, it was brief.

"I know what you mean," Kitsune replied. The fox (who appeared more like her namesake than usual this day) and the swordswoman (swordscat?) were the only ones who chose not to participate, for their own reasons. "I'm getting tired just watching them."

Early in the festivities, Sean set up a telepathic link among all the transformed tenants, allowing them to communicate as long as they were within normal speaking distances. This permitted Kitsune and Motoko to chat from the sidelines without everyone else listening in.

"Does it not seem odd that everyone seems to have taken to this sudden turn of events rather well?" Motoko asked.

"It's like Naru said yesterday," Kitsune said. "Something weird is always going on at Hinata-Sou. It's been this way even before Sean showed up at our doorstep. When it comes to this place, it's either get used to it or get out."

Motoko nodded, knowing Kitsune's logic was sound. The two continued to look on in silence until a sound caught the attention of everyone in attendance: The sound of someone knocking on the front door.

"Of all days…" Naru said. Everyone's eyes first went toward the door, then, all at once, turned to Sean, as though he held the secrets of the universe within him.

"Uh…" Sean said, unprepared for the sudden attention. Being forced to improvise, he cast a modified version of telepathy. Its effect was nothing the others would have expected.

"Who is it?" a voice called out. Yes, it was Sean's voice, but it didn't come out of his mouth, neither was it sent directly to its listeners' minds. Rather, it seemed as though it came from some intangible loudspeaker. The stares he was receiving quickly turned to glares.

"That's it!" Naru yelled. "You have got to be kidding me!"

"What?" Sean said, mind to mind this time. "You expect me to think of every last contingency? I figured preventing Motoko from removing a few vital organs was enough. How was I supposed to know we'd have a visitor?"

Said visitor did announce himself, but he got nothing in response, as everyone's attention was focused elsewhere. Therefore, he just let himself in. He couldn't have predicted what he saw upon arrival. "Well, what do we have here?"

Everyone quickly reaffixed themselves to the matter at hand and breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing the familiar figure. However, for one of them, her earlier concerns have just become a reality.

"Hey, Jimmy," Sean said, as though nothing was different. "What's up?"

"Something tells me I should be asking you that," Jimmy said.

"What does it look like?" Kitsune asked. "Sean turned us all into cats."

Jimmy suddenly found himself in one of those "well, duh" moments, but shook it off when he noticed that one of the felines was trying to sneak away. A quick flurry of movement and a scream later, Motoko was in his arms. "And just where might you be going?" When Motoko refused to look Jimmy in the eye, he put all joking aside--for now. "What's wrong?"

"I didn't know how you would react if you saw me like this," Motoko said, sounding somewhat ashamed. "I was hoping the effect would have worn off before your next visit."

"Well, I for one think you're as cute as you've even been, so don't worry about it. Hey Sean, how long is the duration for this spell of yours?" He added that last part as an afterthought.

Sean glanced over at the clock. "Another twelve hours, give or take."

"That's a shame," Jimmy said. "I've often considered having a pet."

In an instant, Motoko lifted a paw towards Jimmy's face, bringing her claws to bear. "If you value your manhood, you had better take that back."

"Calm down," Jimmy said. "I was only kidding." As if to emphasize that, he started scratching Motoko behind the ears, causing her to purr despite herself.

"Oh my," Motoko thought. "This feels nice." In spite of this, she couldn't help but think this was degrading. "I am going to get him for this." Even she wasn't quite sure as to who she was referring to.

Jimmy would leave after a short while, saying he had some important business to attend to. From that point on, things started to slow down and some of the girls even decided to take a nap. It was also during this time that one of them in particular spoke her mind.

"I'm bored," Kitsune said.

"You're first saying that now?" Sean asked.

"Well, I might have said something sooner, but you were so preoccupied you probably wouldn't have listened anyway."

"Uh huh," Sean said after hearing what he felt was a rather weak argument. "Well, what do you want to do?"

"I feel like watching a movie or two."

"You know where the vault's at."

Kitsune scoffed. "In case you can't tell by looking at me, I can't exactly reach that high right now. On top of that, you're the only one awake right now that can use telekinesis. We both know what that means."

"I know, I know, I'm going," Sean said, heading off toward the stairs.

Kitsune chuckled to herself. "It's good to know I can still get what I want from people."

"I heard that!" Sean continued up to his room where, upon arrival, he saw that the video vault was already open. "What in the…?" Upon further inspection, he spotted none other than Jimmy rummaging through it. Once again, he said the first thing that came to mind. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!"

Jimmy nearly jumped out of his skin, somehow, not hearing Sean's approach. Turning around, he found a very pissed cat staring right at him--and his claws would be the least of his threats. "Uh…" he said, at a loss for words. Fortunately, he would not have to say much.

"Here's a word of advice," Sean said. "If you want to borrow something from my room, ASK FIRST! Now get out of here before I do it for you."

"Sure, no problem," Jimmy said, not wanting to provoke Sean further. Without hesitation, he left the room by way of the window--presumably the same way he came in.

Sean's gaze lingered at the window for a few moments. "Just how long was he in here?" he asked himself. "I'll have to look at the surveillance tape in the morning." He turned his attention back to the video vault. Nothing appeared to be missing, but now wasn't the time to take a complete inventory. Besides, tomorrow, he would find out exactly what went on and what might have been taken. Picking a few choice films, he made his way back to the living room, stopping only to place magical barriers over every entrance. They wouldn't prevent further intrusions per se, but they would alert Sean to them. "I should have put up a security system long ago," he thought.

The rest of the day was spent with everyone either watching movies or napping. Only Sean found himself doing none of the above, his thoughts consumed by Jimmy's trespass, not to mention methods of punishment should it become necessary.

When the time came to head off to bed, a mutual agreement was reached that each person would sleep in their respective rooms. The reasoning behind this was that Sean was not sure what manner of dress they would be in when they returned to their human forms and there is no telling what someone might do in their sleep on any given night.

And so, the Day of the Cat comes to a close. Even though nobody was consciously thinking it, they all knew the next day would be interesting as well--and it certainly would not disappoint.

--- Sunday, 4/25 8:35 AM

Sean wasted little time, pausing only to change clothes before seeking out the previous day's video. "The thing about sneaks," he thought as he passed the shelves containing nearly three years worth of recorded images. "Is that, at the outset, they usually don't think they'll get caught and, therefore, remain oblivious of the possible consequences of their actions." Reaching the final shelf with any contents, he grabbed the DVD for the previous day. "And now to see what these actions truly were."

Retreating from the vault, Sean inserted the disk into his laptop and set it to begin shortly after Jimmy's initial visit. At first, Sean's room, as displayed on the screen, was still and silent, but the wait would not be long. After a few minutes, the door opened and Jimmy walked in. "Huh," Sean said to himself. "I thought he came in through the window. I guess he came down from the roof instead."

After looking around the room for a brief moment, Jimmy made a beeline for the bookcase. It was apparent that he knew exactly what he was seeking--and it would not take long for him to find it. In an instant, Sean recognized the seemingly ordinary binder that was removed. Of course, it was far from ordinary, as it contained the majority of his spells within. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a digital camera. Opening the binder, he proceeded to take pictures of every page.

While the video played, Sean just sat there in silence--but his mind was anything but. "Does he not realize a wizard's spellbook is sacred!" he thought. This alone would have easily been grounds for retribution, but this did not explain why Jimmy was rooting through the video vault.

A few minutes later, Jimmy closed the binder and returned it to its former place. His sights then turned to the vault. Through some means that even Sean could not quite follow, he gained access to the DVD stash. From this point on, Sean watched even closer than before, wondering if there was anything in particular that he was looking for. What this ended up being was nothing short of the worst-case scenario.

After an eternity of taking out DVD cases, examining them and putting them back, Jimmy finally found one that got his interest. Opening it, he removed the disc and slipped it into his back pocket. Now, this might have been bad enough, but when Sean caught sight of the label, he nearly blew his top. He only saw two words, but that would be more than enough: "The Treatment."

"Oh, he did not…" Sean muttered angrily. He could only imagine what Jimmy may have planned for a certain concoction--one he'd rather not have deal with ever again--but he knew it could not be a good thing. Without a moment's hesitation, Sean got up and headed out the door, not even bothering to turn off his laptop. Had he stayed, he would have also seen Jimmy filch a few more videos, these featuring him (or, in this case, her) and one of the girls in… shall we say… intimate contact with one other.

---

"Are you sure we shouldn't wait for Sean to come down?" Shinobu asked as she set breakfast down on the dining table. Only he was not in attendance.

"He did not get much sleep yesterday," Motoko said. "No thanks to me," her mind added. "I think it would be best if we let him rest."

Shinobu slowly nodded in understanding and sat down to eat. That morning, when everything went back to normal (at least for them), the tenants reflected on the previous day and some of them conceded that they might want to do it over again, if only for an hour or so and if they had some say in what they would become.

The beginning of the morning meal went by in the usual small talk, but that all came to an abrupt end when Motoko suddenly turned her head. "What's going on?" Kitsune asked. "Sean awake?"

"To say the least," Motoko said.

"What do you mean by that?" Shinobu asked, beginning to worry.

Motoko found herself unable to respond, as her full attention was directed toward the growing energy signal traveling down the hallway upstairs. The emotion that went along with did not sit well with her at all. This was illustrated when Sean appeared at the bottom of the stairs, his fists balled at his sides and a look on his face like none of them have seen since Naru and Motoko started controlling their temper.

"What's wrong?" Shinobu called out after Sean passed by without so much as a greeting. "Why are you so upset?"

"Nothing you need to concern yourself with," Sean said, anger and determination apparent in his tone. The next part he said directly to Motoko's mind. "Don't kill me for what I might do."

"What…" Motoko stuttered, confused by that statement, but before she could ask him to clarify it, Sean was out the door. Had he not shown restraint, said door probably would have either been knocked off its hinges or blown to smithereens.

Without a word spoken between them, everyone exchanged worried glances. They all knew that getting Sean that mad was no small feat and prayed for the safety--if not the survival--of whoever was stupid enough to pull it off, as nobody was willing to try to stop him.

---

In the time to took Sean to take two steps outside, he teleported to Jimmy's house. He would only look at the front door for a moment before making it vanish with a wave of his hand, only to have it reappear as soon as he was inside. Undeterred, he made his way to the living room, where he would make his presence truly known.

"JIMMY!" he scream at the top of his lungs. "COME HERE AND TAKE WHAT YOU'VE GOT COMING TO YOU!"

"Alright, alright!"

The look of rage on Sean's face suddenly turned to one of shock. "No…" he thought. "He couldn't have… It's not possible…" He hoped his ears were simply playing tricks on him, but as soon as the owner of the house appeared before him, those hopes were dashed.

"Sean, what did you wake me up for?" Jimmy asked Even though Sean was absolutely sure this was who he was looking at, he found himself unable to believe that his long time friend had, in fact, transformed himself into a woman.

End of Chapter LX

(evil giggling)

(more evil giggling)

(awkward silence)


	64. Ch61: A Crash Course in Morals and Ethic

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH. 

Okay, for the record, writer's block is a bitch. Thank you all for putting up with my personal problems, but enough about school. Let's get the show on the road.

Chapter LXI: A Crash Course in Morals and Ethics

To say that Sean was surprised would have been a grave understatement. Granted, he had assumed that Jimmy would waste little time before beginning to experiment, he never expected his friend to cross the gender line--or at least not so soon. The shock would quickly melt away, fueling the anger already present.

Eventually, he regained control over his vocal chords. As he spoke, he unconsciously went into one of the voices he picked up from the years he spent watching Comedy Central. This one happened to be Carlos Mencia--or at least a reasonable facsimile. "Uh-uh. No way! Tell me you did not do what I think you did!"

"Huh?" Jimmy said, still half-asleep. Looking down, he/she finally realized what Sean was referring to. "Well, what do you think?" he/she asked, giggling a bit. "Do I look hot or what?"

Under the current circumstances, it was well nigh impossible for Sean to make an uninformed decision. This was mostly because Jimmy had opted to sleep in the nude for… whatever reason. Even at first glance, Jimmy's new chassis was one of those high-end models, as opposed to Sean's more modest version. Standing a full 6'5", she had legs up to her armpits (figuratively, of course), fair skin and red hair that went down halfway down her back (and, that morning, had a terrible case of bed head). Of course, the main thing that--ahem--stood out were her breasts, which looked to be double-D's at least.

Sean would not be distracted by this for long. "Out of all the spells you had available to you, that had to be the first one, didn't it?" he asked.

"Of course," Jimmy said. "Who wouldn't want to be a beautiful woman?"

"For one, someone who wants to attract a beautiful woman," Sean answered.

"This coming from someone who has only had sexual relations with women as a woman," Jimmy said, the grin never leaving her face.

"Very funny," Sean muttered. "Alright, first thing's first." He held an arm out toward Jimmy and she became enveloped in a dense fog, hiding her from view completely. The only sign that she was still there was the coughing coming from within, which was fluctuating even as she did so. When the fog lifted, Jimmy was back in his normal, male form--and fully clothed.

"You are no fun, you know that?" Jimmy asked when he saw what the mage had done to him.

"Maybe so," Sean said approaching Jimmy. Even though he walked the entire way, only once did his step touch the floor. With barely a thought, he began rising up off the ground until he and Jimmy could look eye to eye. "But I hardly consider someone raiding my room fun, would you?"

"You shouldn't have made it so easy for me," Jimmy said.

"That's beside the point!" Sean said through his teeth. "You know, I could have taught you to use magic if you wanted to learn it so badly. All you had to do was ask, but nooooo, you had to be all sneaky about it and do it behind my back. The stupid thing about all this whole thing it that it's not even the reason why I'm so pissed off at you right now!"

"If that's the case, then what got your panties in a bunch?" Jimmy asked.

Sean got right in Jimmy's face. "Pray tell, what exactly were you planning to do with lust potion?"

"You found out about that, huh?" Jimmy asked, giggling a bit.

"This is not a laughing matter!" Sean said. "I have had too many damn problems with that shit and I don't want to deal with it again with you!"

Now, most of the time, Jimmy is a pretty easy-going guy, but he knew that hearing his friend start cursing was never something to be taken lightly. Regardless, he felt compelled to call Sean's bluff. "And just what do you plan to do to stop me?"

"For starters, I could let Motoko in on this," Sean said. "I'm sure she would be very interested in this little development and would no doubt want to give me ideas for what to do to you."

"She wouldn't do that," Jimmy said, giving her girlfriend the benefit of the doubt.

"Don't be so sure," Sean said. "A lifetime ago, she had an unwavering conviction that entire male gander was evil and perverted. Right now, you fit seem to that profile quite nicely. Knowing her, both then and now, I can think of one thing she would suggest." It was Sean's turn to start giggling. "Then, you would actually have a reason to turn into a woman again, since you wouldn't be much of a man anymore."

Still levitating, Sean backed off, an evil grin on his face. "Fortunately for you, I have other plans. Instead of going after your family jewels, I'll aim for the next best thing: your pride."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Jimmy asked, somewhat curious.

"By kicking your ass, how else?" Sean asked.

Normally, Jimmy would have laughed at something as absurd as that. However, here and now, he wasn't exactly sure what to think. From what he has seen of Sean's combat abilities--most of which being his battle with Tsuruko way back when--he could certainly hold his own against many who would stand in his way.

All of a sudden, Jimmy sensed power rise within Sean; and instinct took over. Before he could stop himself, he moved forward to prevent whatever spell he was preparing. Much to his surprise, Sean flew backwards just in time to avoid his fist. It was as though he saw the attack coming even though he had his eyes closed. As such, he did not give Jimmy enough time for a second chance.

When Sean reopened his eyes, they were glowing white. To the untrained eye, that would have been all there was to be seen, but Jimmy's keen senses saw twin lasers shoot from them, hitting him right between his own. An instant later, he let out a cry of pain and recoiled as though he had been hit by the punch he tried to throw just moments before.

"Attacking the mind," Sean thought, his eyes returning to normal. "It may take longer to set up, but the result is well worth it."

"OW!" Jimmy said when he could form coherent words. "That hurt, you know that!"

"Of course I do," Sean said, not a trace of humor in his voice. "Keep in mind, this is a punishment. Pain is to be expected."

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Jimmy said. He'd be damned if he was going to lay down for anyone--except for maybe Motoko, but that's neither here nor there."

"Bring it," Sean shot back.

"Gladly," Jimmy said as he lunged forward. Despite how upset he was at Sean's act of aggression, he did not wish to harm him too badly. This was not only to preserve the chance for reconciliation after everything was said and done, but also because of what the others might do if they caught wind of it. Besides, he sort of brought this whole mess upon himself.

Despite Jimmy's efforts, he found himself unable to lay a hand or foot on his opponent, due to his surprising proficiency in airborne acrobatics. This was proven true even as they moved into a hallway, where maneuverability was more of a premium. For his part, the flight spell was the only thing Sean chose to do. Had he used teleportation to dodge the blows, the moment it would have taken to regain his bearings would have been one too many.

A game of cat and mouse ensued between the two as they moved through Jimmy's house. They moved through rooms, hallways, upstairs, downstairs and back again. Eventually, they found themselves on the second floor of the garage, which housed Jimmy's private dojo. Chuckling a bit, he grabbed a sword near the door. "What are you going to do now?" he asked, believing that Sean would have to go through him to leave.

Without a word, Sean scanned his surroundings, particularly the weapons that lined the walls. When his gaze returned to Jimmy, there was en evil grin on his face, coupled with a laugh of his own before stretching his arms out wide. Almost immediately, a rattling noise could be heard from all directions.

"Uh oh," Jimmy thought, his eyes growing wide at the sight before him. The rattling soon ended as a few of the weapons came loose from the walls and positioned themselves between the two, carried by unseen hands. He couldn't help but think that, had there been hands and bodies connected to them, they would have been in various fighting stances.

"Time for the fun to truly begin," Sean said. With a wave of his hand, he sent the armaments forward to perform the service they were crafted for.

---

While the antagonism between Sean and Jimmy were reaching the boiling point, things were starting to heat up on another world as well, though for completely different reasons. When Stephanie first established what was officially called a Day of Rest back in 1229, it was intended as a way for the other goddesses to relax and, perhaps, pursue other interests that were not included in their respective spheres of influence. Since that time however, Sundays have slowly degenerated to what is now informally referred to as the quintessential girl-on-girl orgy.

However, on this day, not all members of the divine were in attendance; something a certain arbiter of all things romantic could not abide. "Hey, Linda!" Stephanie called out, as she entered the inner sanctum of the goddess of magic. "What's the hold up? You gonna come join us or what?"

"You'll have to go on without me," Linda said. "There is something that demands my attention." She was seated at her desk, staring intently at a monitor which had a "magic mirror" theme to it. She didn't so much as avert her gaze when Stephanie arrived.

"What could be so important that--"

"Code Black," Linda said, cutting the question off at the pass.

Stephanie recoiled a bit, blinking a couple times. "Grand theft arcane?" she asked. "Damn, how long has it been since the last time you had to deal with one of those?"

"Not long enough," Linda said flatly.

"Well, why don't you just go down there and take care of it?" Stephanie asked.

"Because I cannot interfere until the victim at least makes an attempt at reclamation and/or retribution, such is protocol," Linda said.

"Who's the sucker this time around?" Stephanie asked.

"I'll give you one guess," Linda said.

"You're kidding," Stephanie said, suddenly interested. "Who would be stupid enough to steal from Sean?"

"See for yourself," Linda said, moving aside.

Stephanie approached to see the situation at hand which, at this point, had not yet come to blows. "Jimmy!"

"You know him?" Linda asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," Stephanie answered. "We've crossed paths once before." It was then that a thought struck her; that if Jimmy indeed stole from Sean, then some Roberts-style punishment was forthcoming. "This should be good." As long as she wasn't the target, that's all that mattered.

Without a word, Linda switched her gaze back to the monitor and the matter at hand. Grinning despite herself, she found herself sharing Stephanie's sentiment.

---

The remainder of breakfast at Hinata-Sou was eerie, to say the least. None of them could have expected to see Sean as infuriated as he was, especially considering how rare such occurrences were. The only thoughts going through the various tenants' minds were inquiries as to how it all came about and who caused it.

Despite their collective single-mindedness, it took a while for the topic to be brought up in conversation. "So what do you think happened?" Shinobu asked as everyone lounged in the hot springs. Well, everyone except Keitaro, of course.

"I can't say," Kitsune said. "But there's one thing I know for sure: seeing a look like the one on Sean's face was downright scary."

"He certainly has the right," Naru said. "Especially considering what he might be capable of should the mood strike him."

"Whatever happened," Mutsumi said, her usual ditzy grin having given way to a look of concern. "I hope that whoever was responsible isn't hurt too badly."

"I agree wholeheartedly," Motoko said. "On that note, it would probably be best to let you know what he told me telepathically before he left." Seeing everyone watching attentively, she proceeded. "He… requested that I not kill him for what he does today. I interpret this as an implied threat against one of us, my sister or Jimmy. I currently see no reason for him to be angry at us and, as far as I know, he has not been in contact with Tsuruko for a while. This leaves only one remaining candidate"  
As if on cue, they heard knocking on the door to the changing room shortly followed by Keitaro's voice. "Hey, girls," he said. "There's something I think you need to see"  
It would not take long for the girls to dry off and make themselves decent. They knew well enough that Keitaro would never disturb them while bathing without good reason. When they walked out of the changing room, they found him there waiting patiently for them. In the past, he most likely would have entered the hot spring shortly after knocking; this particularly hazardous habit got beaten out of him rather quickly.  
"So, what do you have to show us?" Naru asked.  
"Follow me," Keitaro said, leading them towards the stairs and eventually into Sean's room. "I had a feeling that the cause of Sean being on the warpath this morning was here, and I was proven right when I saw this." He motioned for everyone to gather around the laptop that, in his haste, Sean left up and running.  
"What is that?" Shinobu asked, seeing the room they were currently in on the screen.  
"According to this," Keitaro said, pointing out the disc case nearby. "this is yesterday's surveillance. Remember when Sean vanished without warning?" Everyone nodded affirmatively. "Well, this is why." With that, he replayed Jimmy's infiltration.  
"So my hunch was correct," Motoko thought. "But why would he do something like this"  
"What is he doing?" Mutsumi asked during Jimmy's stint as a photographer.  
"I'm not entirely sure," Keitaro said. "Even when I watched it the first time, I couldn't explain it"  
"I can," Shinobu said, an emotionless look on her face. "He's copying the spells straight from Sean's binder. I can only assume that he intends to keep them for his own personal use."

"I find this hard to believe," Motoko said.

"Then enlighten us," Shinobu said. "After all, he is your boyfriend; you should know him better than any of us."

"I regret that I am mystified by his actions," Motoko said after a moment of thought, mostly because she was not prepared for being put on the spot. "Granted, he has shown sneaky tendencies every so often, but he has never done anything like this before."

"Keep watching," Keitaro said, returning the girls' attention to the matter at hand. Before too long, they saw the second stage of Jimmy's burglary. When the first DVD came into view, its label was instantly recognized by Kitsune, just to name one.

"Lust potion," the fox muttered. "The explains everything. Sean hates that stuff as much as I do, if not more, and would never let it come into use again, even by Jimmy."

Motoko was in shock. As hard as she tried, she could not find a rational explanation for Jimmy's actions. What worried her the most was who might be affected by all this in the end.

"If Sean wasn't already there, I'd be going to Jimmy's house and beat him down myself," Naru said. "Hell, I may go anyway."

"Before you do, there's still one more thing," Keitaro said. "You see how he's taking more than one video from the vault? Is it just me, or is he picking those other ones at random?"

The girls watched closely, trying to find a pattern or some commonality. Three of them soon started exchanging glances. Blushes became apparent on the faces of Shinobu and Motoko, but Kitsune only felt her conviction strengthen.

"Let's go," Kitsune said, getting up. "If we hurry, we can still catch Sean giving Jimmy what he has coming to him." Shinobu and Motoko immediately repeated the action, each of them thinking the exact same thing. The others followed them out the door moments later, if only out of curiosity. Even if they had noticed the unspoken communiqué among the three, they probably would not have had the slightest idea as to what it all meant.

The trip to Jimmy's house was pretty uneventful. Along the way, Kitsune drew close to Motoko. "This kind of brings you back to the good old days, doesn't it?" she whispered.

"It does," Motoko responded, obviously not amused in the least. "Though that was a time I thought I had left behind me. Honestly, I wish that was still the case."

As the group neared its destination, Motoko's senses picked up that all too familiar sensation that signified magic use on Sean's part; Jimmy's punishment must already be underway. Following the signal, she led the others around the side of the house toward the garage. Even before they entered, they could hear yelling from inside, but it wasn't until they were halfway up the stairs to the second floor dojo that the voice became distinct enough to be recognized as cries of anguish.

When they opened the door, the first thing to they saw was Sean standing in the middle of the room. He was staring intently at the far end of the room which, at the moment, was a blind spot to the onlookers.

"Sean?" Shinobu asked. The wizard turned his head just enough to see them. He smiled and nodded his head, silently acknowledging their presence before turning back to the matter at hand.

As each tenant entered the room, a look of shock appeared on their faces at the sight they beheld. Trapped in the corner of the room was Jimmy, being attacked by various weapons floating around him--no doubt controlled by Sean. The warrior held a sword of his own and was trying frantically to dodge and block the strikes against him. Had there been only two, maybe three enemies, he might have been successful. However, there was a full half dozen of them hacking, slashing and bludgeoning him tirelessly.

"Sean, you're killing him!" Motoko cried, she being the first to regain control of her mind and thinking Sean had thoroughly lost his.

"No, I'm not," Sean said. "I put an enchantment on him that prevents his wounds before they happen--though it does not take away any of the pain."

"You can be so evil sometimes, you know that?" Kitsune asked.

"Yes," Sean said, grinning.

"What better way to punish a warrior than to keep him alive and in constant pain?" Naru asked.

"Hmm?" Sean said, the word "punish" sticking in his mind. "You know why I'm here?"

"Yeah," Shinobu said. "We watched the surveillance tape."

"MOTOKO!" Jimmy called out. For some reason, he wasn't listening to the conversation. "You have to help me! Get Sean to stop!"

"No," Motoko replied. "After copying Sean's spells without his permission, stealing the lust potion formula and a few sex tapes, you deserve whatever you get."

Sean blinked a couple times. "Sex tapes?" he thought. "I must have missed that. Let's see, the lust potion, sex videos and the first thing he does is turn into a woman. If I didn't know better, he's looking for an excuse to never leave his room again." He glanced over to his audience. "Or worse, cheat on Motoko with himself. Now that I think about it, this punishment seems to be… lacking something."

Being sidetracked caused Sean to lose focus in his spell casting. This resulted in his assault against Jimmy to slowly grind to a halt. Ever the opportunist, Jimmy sprang forward as soon as he had a clear path. Sean realized his blunder in the nick of time and vanished just as Jimmy was about to cleave him in two. Had his attempt at payback been successful, Jimmy would undoubtedly have been at the mercy (or lack thereof) of an angry mob.

"Nice try," Sean said, his voice seeming to come from all directions. "But you'll have to better than that! Besides, I'm not done with you yet!"

"Where are you!" Jimmy yelled, still in a state of battle frenzy.

"That should be the least of your concerns right now," Sean's voice replied. Moments later, Jimmy became encased in a wavy blue sphere accompanied by Sean's special brand of creepy laughter. Shinobu and Motoko instantly recognized the bubble as their landlord's method of dimensional travel. Soon after its arrival, the orb disappeared, taking with it both Jimmy and the disembodied voice.

"Where'd they go?" Suu asked.

Motoko contemplated the question for barely a moment. If her hunch was once again correct, time was of the essence. "Shinobu, get us back home, quickly!"

Shinobu was taken aback at the sudden command. "Why do you--"

"I will explain later," Motoko said. "Just do it!"

Not wanting to argue, Shinobu teleported everyone back to Hinata-Sou--the living room to be specific. As soon as she regained her bearings, Motoko dashed up the stairs. "What's up with her?" Kitsune asked.

"Who knows why people do anything anymore?" Naru asked back, her arms crossed.

Almost as hastily as when she left, Motoko ran back in, a PlayStation tucked under one arm. "Suu," she said, not even waiting to catch her breath. "Hook this up to the television."

"Will do," Suu said, quickly getting to work.

"What's that for?" Keitaro asked.

"I could only think of one place Sean would have gone," Motoko said. She pointed in Suu's general direction. "In that world he made for me so long ago. I truly hope that I am right, as I for one do not wish to miss what might happen."

"So that's why she had me teleport everyone here," Shinobu thought.

"All done," Suu said. To her, the task she just performed was so elementary, she was able to listen to the conversation around her. "Let's see what else Sean has planned for Jimmy shall we?" With that, she turned on the video game system…

---

When the transport sphere finished its journey and Jimmy was once again able to see more than four feet in front of him, he found himself in what could only be described as a gladiatorial arena; one he has been in before, but not in a long time. "Why did you bring me here?" he asked.

"It's simple, really." Jimmy turned around and saw Sean there. It was apparent that he had reactivated his flight spell, though his toes were barely three inches above the ground. "It's one thing to keep a warrior alive and in constant pain, but it's another for one to be humiliated at his own game."

"So you're going to try and defeat me in a fair fight?" Jimmy asked.

"I'll try and I'll succeed," Sean said. "You may have looked through my spellbook, but as far as my abilities are concerned, you don't know the half of it."

"Is that so?" Jimmy asked. "Who does he think he is?" he thought. While he knew Sean could easily be a match for your average fighter, but Jimmy was far from average.

"Besides," Sean continued. "Here, I won't have to worry about holding back,"

"If you're so confident, then give me your best shot," Jimmy challenged.

"You asked for it," Sean said. "Time to show off," he thought. After cracking his knuckles, he spread his arms wide.

"What the hell is he doing?" Jimmy asked himself, knowing that Sean's stance wasn't the most likely one for an attack. Indeed, the first effects of his opponent's spell did little but augment his confusion. "Why is it getting colder all of a sudden?" "What do you expect a little cold snap to accomplish?" he yelled.

"Pipe down!" Sean shot back. "I swear, some people have no patience whatsoever." The air around them continued to grow colder at a steady rate, though Sean seemed to be unaffected by it. The same could not be said for Jimmy, who now wished he had brought a coat. After the temperature passed the zero degree mark (in both Fahrenheit and Celsius), Sean brought his arms in front of his face. Immediately thereafter, a brisk wind formed, circling around the wizard and making things that much worse for Jimmy.

"I'm going to go hypothermic if this goes on for much longer," Jimmy thought, his arm raised to shield his face from the inhospitable conditions. "I have to end this now!" He was just about to charge his seemingly defenseless opponent when he saw something blow by him. "…Snow? He isn't…"

But he was. Step by step, Sean was manufacturing a blizzard. In almost no time at all, visibility had been reduced to almost nil within the swirling maelstrom. "Can't he just come at me head on?" Jimmy muttered to himself.

"Now, where's the fun in that?" Sean asked telepathically. "Besides, we both know that would never work against you. Now, hold still just a little while longer..."

For Jimmy, that was a sign to get the hell away from there, but his progress was slow and painstaking due to the fact that most of his efforts up to that point were used to stay in one spot amid the howling wind and to keep from freezing to death. The pain in his joints was coupled by the stinging of snow hitting all exposed flesh at 35 mph (about 56 kph).

"There's no point in trying to escape," Sean said, once again taking the form of a voice-over. "To me, you are in plain sight."

"No shit," Jimmy thought, not caring of Sean could hear him or not. The only thing on his mind was his want to put some distance between himself and the growing energy signal behind him.

"Hey, Jimmy," Sean said. "Remember Mortal Kombat?"

Jimmy had no time to respond, as the energy suddenly started flying towards him at an alarming rate. If this was happening anywhere else, he would have been able to dodge it easily, but the blizzard conspired to drastically cut his mobility. A moment before impact, he saw it: a ball of some blue-white substance bigger than his head. When it hit, his movements froze--literally, as he had been encased in a block of ice three feet thick.

"How do you like that?" Sean asked. He calmly strode toward his subject, the raging snowstorm parting before him like the Red Sea. "That should teach you never to mess with me." He moved around so that Jimmy was facing him. "I know you're still conscious and can hear me in there," he said. "And if you think this is the worst of it, you're sadly mistaken."

Stepping back, Sean looked deep in thought, as though he was actually trying to decide what to do next. "Hmm," he thought. "That might take some effort, but I think it'll be worth it." Moving forward again, he placed an open palm onto the surface of the gigantic cube that contained his adversary. Closing his eyes and regulating his breathing, he began performing a low, repetitive chant. At first, it seemed to have no effect, but after a while, his hand began shaking uncontrollably. Sweat poured from his brow as his entire concentration was centered on keeping a steady pace.

This would go on for about five full minutes before the relative calm came to an end and Sean's spell bore fruit. All at once, the block shattered, sending bite-sized pieces in all directions and subsequently getting swallowed up in the blizzard. Among these were chucks of frozen flesh that had once been Jimmy. Indeed, this was the finishing move.

"I was right," Sean sighed, referring to both parts to his prediction. "I feel much better now." With a wave of his hand, the storm came to an abrupt halt, snow and assorted body parts settling to the ground, the latter of which vanishing as soon as it did so. Walking over to the edge of the arena, he gave allowed himself a breather before Jimmy returned. All the while, he was completely unaware of those watching him.

---

"Holy cow," Kitsune said. "Tell me I didn't just see that."

"I wish I could," Naru said. Everyone present was surprised by what Sean was able to accomplish--and perhaps that Jimmy allowed it to happen.

"How long has he been able to do that?" Shinobu asked, somewhat horrified that her boyfriend would ever practice something so lethal--if only she knew.

"Jimmy…" Motoko thought. Even though she was well aware that, despite all appearances, Jimmy was not lost forever, it was still disheartening to see him frozen alive and subsequently blown apart.

"Go, Sean, go!" Suu cheered. "I've seen… okay, I've caused some explosions before, but nothing like that! I swear, if he was still available, I'd--"

"SUU!" Shinobu broke in.

"Sorry," Suu said, holding the back of her head. "I guess I just got caught up in the moment."

"So… what's going to happen now?" Keitaro asked.

"I wish I knew," Motoko said. "From the look of things, Sean's rage is spent, but…"

"But what?" Naru asked.

There was a look of concern on Motoko's face. "If I know him as much as I believe I do, Jimmy may want the last laugh--and after what we just saw…"

"Oh, no," Shinobu muttered, fearing the worst.

---

Meanwhile, what Jimmy might do was the last thing on Sean's mind. In fact, his mind was a complete blank while he recovered from his exertions. He would be brought back to earth when he saw Jimmy fade back into being in the center of the arena.

Jimmy barely waited long enough to reorient himself before spinning around to face Sean. "What the hell was that!" he asked.

"Proof that you should never give a wizard a free shot," Sean said, not missing a beat. "What did you think? Cool, huh?"

"Funny," Jimmy said. Looking around, he suddenly noticed something amiss. "Where did my sword go?" To the very end, his weapon never left his grip. Now, it was nowhere to be seen.

"It was a casualty, much like yourself," Sean said. "Whatever's left of it must be buried in the snowdrifts."

"It's just as well," Jimmy said. "I won't be needing it anyway."

"What do you mean by--" Sean question was cut off when Jimmy seemed to vanish in thin air. "Where did he go?" he asked, his eyes darting every which way. At first, he thought Jimmy might have learned teleportation overnight along with that… other spell… but that theory was soon dispelled when he saw what he could only describe as delayed footprints in the snow; and they were in a winding path heading in his general direction. "This can't be good," he muttered, now suffering from a sense of foreboding.

All of a sudden, Jimmy appeared right next to Sean, making him cry out and stumble away. Before he could take five steps, Jimmy disappeared once again and the next thing Sean knew, he was sliding along the ground on his stomach, caused by the ninja's foot meeting the back of his head. He tried to get up, but as he did so, Jimmy stepped on his back, pinning him to the ground.

Unbeknownst to Sean, Jimmy had a big, toothy grin on his face as he knelt down and delivered a message that would seal the mage's fate. "My turn."

Every last spectator would cringe at what they would see next. With a barrage of fists and feet, Jimmy proceeded to beat Sean into a bloody mess. Well, actually, this particular world was specifically designed so that no blood would be shed, but that's beside the point. Jimmy's movements were so quick and his attacks so powerful, Sean had no hope of defending himself, much less stage a counterattack.

In what could only have been preparations for his own finisher, Jimmy tossed Sean high into the air. Through some miracle, Sean was still conscious after his savage beating, but only enough to know that he was soaring and nowhere near able to prevent himself from moving a finger, much less cast a spell to save his life.

Reaching the apex of his flight, he felt like he was floating for a split second before he plummeted back down to earth. Air rushed past his limp form until he landed hard on a rather large pile of snow--something that was more forgiving than the ground would have been for sure.

"Huh?" Sean found himself distracted so that he didn't see Jimmy bearing down on him from above. All of a sudden, Jimmy's foot slammed hard into his chest, forcing him deeper into the cold, white mound. He made no sound, as he was already in excruciating pain and this was merely icing on the cake, but not all of it was caused by what happened in front of him.

"Well, what do you know," Jimmy said. "That's where my sword went," Apparently, it had been buried underneath that particular snowdrift this entire time. He considered himself lucky, as his discovery had wedged itself between his toes. Not so for Sean, as it was protruding from his chest by about six inches.

---

"SEAN!" Shinobu screamed. The last time she saw her beloved impaled, she ran out of the room in horror. This time, she wanted to dive right into the television screen. She probably would have succeeded too, if Motoko and Kitsune didn't have her restrained.

"Shinobu, calm down," Kitsune said. "Sean's going to be fine."

"I know that!" Shinobu said, struggling to break free. "Let me go so I can kick Jimmy's ass!"

"That won't accomplish anything," Naru said, trying her hand at being the voice of reason.

"I don't care!"

"You think Jimmy would let you do that?" Motoko asked.

"I don't CARE!"

"Better question," Kitsune said. "Would Sean let you do that?"

"I DON'T--" Shinobu stopped mid-sentence, her anger deflating just as quickly. "You're right," she said softly. "He would never allow me to get involved in something like this." She looked at Kitsune, then Motoko, both of which still had a tight grip on each arm. "You can let go now. I won't do anything rash." When the teen was released, she slumped back down onto the couch. "But can you really blame me?" she asked. "I mean, what would any of you have done in my place?"

Everyone present gave the matter some thought and concluded that they probably would have tried a similar stunt. Of course, such a happenstance was easier imagined for some than others. "If I had my say," Motoko said. "I would have stopped this long ago."

"What can we do?" Shinobu asked. "I hate seeing them like this."

"Nothing," Motoko said. "We must let them resolve this on their own."

---

After Sean departed to the realm video game characters go when they kick the bucket, Jimmy reached for his newly rediscovered weapon, only to find that it wasn't whole. Most of the blade was there, but it had been sheared near the hilt. "It's a shame, really," Jimmy said. "To see a good sword reduced to this. Oh well, I can get it fixed later." With that, he tossed it aside and waited patiently for Sean to return.

It took a few minutes, but Sean eventually reappeared, shuddering as soon as he did so. "I swear, if I go through that ever again, it'll be too soon." He quickly turned until he faced Jimmy. "And just what was that all about?"

"What, you expected me to just stand by and let you keep 'punishing' me?" Jimmy asked.

"To be honest, your punishment was over the moment you died," Sean said, his expression turning to an evil grin. "But if you want to play, then let's play. I could always use the practice."

"You're not going to pull out another blizzard, are you?" Jimmy asked.

"Nah," Sean said. "Controlling the elements like that takes a lot out of a guy, you know? Besides, I thought that was a bit much, not to mention overly dramatic, don't you?"

"I guess, but do you really think you can beat me on a level playing field?" Jimmy asked.

"I might ask you the same thing," Sean said. "You know so little of what I'm capable of; and I know you're just itching to find out."

"And what makes you so sure of that?" Jimmy asked.

"Oh please," Sean said. "You know I've been practicing combat magic for a long time now. You can't tell me it hasn't piqued your interest."

Jimmy chuckled a bit. "You know what? You're right. Show me what you've got. Maybe I can give you a couple pointers."

"We'll see," Sean said. "And before I forget, I intend to take back what you stole when we return home."

"Over my dead body," Jimmy said.

"I can arrange that…"

---

"You've got to be kidding me," Kitsune said, commenting on the rather anticlimactic conclusion. "Only those two could pull off something like that."

Motoko got up off the couch and turned off the television and the PlayStation. "We have no reason to continue watching," she said. Nodding to the others, she headed back to her room.

One by one, everyone left to their own devices, but Kitsune noticed that Shinobu still looked distraught. "What's wrong?"

"I just can't believe that he'd…" Shinobu motioned to the now blank screen.

"You remember the battles he fought for our sake, right?" Shinobu nodded weakly. "Well, how many of them was able to win on his own?"

Shinobu thought about it for a few moments. The answer she found didn't raise her spirits any. "None."

"That's right," Kitsune said. "Knowing him, he probably wants to be ready for anything."

"I realize that," Shinobu said. "I just hate seeing him like that, when he gets so… sadistic."

"I know how you feel," Kitsune said. "I've been on the receiving end of it. Listen, we know he hates fighting as much as you do, but sometimes, it becomes necessary, no matter how much we wish it wasn't."

"I know," Shinobu muttered.

"Are you going to be alright?" Kitsune asked.

"Yeah," Shinobu said. She did not sound convincing, but Kitsune decided to let it go.

"Alright," Kitsune said. "But if you ever need someone to talk to, you won't have to look far." She wasn't specifically referring to herself per se, but to all who called Hinata-Sou home. After patting the young girl on the shoulder, she left the room as well.

For the next minute or two, Shinobu found herself just staring at the television, thinking about Sean and Jimmy sparring in some other world and debating whether or not she really wanted to know what was going on. "I need to find some way to get my mind off of this," she finally said to herself. Suddenly, an idea occurred to her, and a small grin started to take shape. "I wonder how long it would take for me to learn that cat spell…"

---

From outside Linda's room, the following exchange could be heard:

"Thank goodness that got resolved. I would have hated to get in the middle of that war zone."

"Well, you know my policy: Make love, not war. Speaking of which…"

"AH! Stephanie!"

"What? You can't tell me you don't enjoy that."

"Hmhmhm. Stephanie, you're insatiable."

"Why, thank you." With that, Linda officially joined the party.

End of Chapter LXI

An abrupt ending? Perhaps, but what I had originally intended wouldn't have been much better. Anyway, for those of you who don't already know I have another side project taking shape. SSDG: Uncut! You can find it on AFF.

From here,I will begin the finale of Keitaro Goes Psycho! Hopoefully, I will have a better idea in regards to my plans for Ch. 62 by the time I'm done. Until then, please R&R! E-mail mewith any ideas you may have. All will be considered.


	65. Ch62: Tools of the Trade

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH.

I know, it's been forever since my last update. In lieu of excuses, let's just get on with it.

Chapter LXII: Tools of the Trade 

When children think of toys, objects such as balls, stuffed animals and video games usually come to mind, just to name a few. Adults in the other hand, can have a very different view of the term. Whether it be their profession or just a hobby, everyone has those things that they enjoy working with and would do so more often if time permitted. This includes, but is not limited to, power tools, car parts, computers (whole and otherwise) and all manner of sports memorabilia.

For a certain wizard, this consists of (at least in part) various enchanted items created by his own hand. At a rough average of one every month or two, Sean has accumulated quite the collection of items designed to either save him the effort of casting certain spells or for the benefit of those who are unable to perform such feats themselves. Within the confines of his video vault, behind one of the racks, is a hidden room where Sean stores all of the items not in use at the time. During his infiltration, Jimmy had no idea just how close he came to stumbling upon a gold mine.

First on the list, both chronologically and in significance was the Ring of Sustenance. Influenced directly from Dungeons and Dragons, it allowed Sean to survive on two hours of sleep a night and without food or water before it was officially retired on April 27th, 2008. This, along with the teleportation ring designed to bring Keitaro back home after being sent into orbit (Retired 10/7/07. Thankfully, it did not have to be used as often as Sean feared.) and the anti-hangover necklace (Semi-retired due to Kitsune's waning drinking habit.) just to name two, were intended to make its wearers' lives that much easier. Then again, there are certainly those items with slightly less than serious purposes.

--- Saturday, 3/8/2008 2:10 PM

While meditating, one has the potential to be more aware of their surroundings. Some utilize this to better attune themselves with nature, but for Motoko Aoyama, it allowed her to easily sense a certain wizard drawing near. Granted, picking up Sean's energy signal was no difficult task, considering the time they have lived under the same roof, but this time, there seemed to be something... more to it. She found herself intrigued by this, but she would soon learn that an active investigation or her part would not be necessary--mostly due to him knocking on her door.

"Motoko, may I come in?" Sean asked.

"You may," Motoko responded.

Sean then opened the door to find the swordswoman in her usual meditative pose. "I'm sorry, was I disturbing you?"

"Not at all," Motoko said, standing up. "You would no doubt have good reason for being here."

"Yes, well..." Sean began, clearing his throat. "I was just wondering if you would help me test something I just made."

"I would be happy to," Motoko said.

"Good," Sean said. "Come with me."

Motoko followed her landlord into the hallway, on a path she knew lead to the rooftop platform. "Pardon my curiosity," Motoko asked along the way. "But why are you asking me to assist you? Surely there might be somebody more qualified."

"Well, Shinobu, Keitaro and Naru are doing homework right now and, to be blunt, I trust you with this more than Kitsune and Suu put together," Sean answered.

"Why not test it on yourself?" Motoko asked.

"Because if I do, I won't be completely sure if it works properly or not."

"What could he have planned?" Motoko asked herself as they reached their destination.

"Ah, what a wonderful day for a trial run," Sean said, gazing up into the cloudless sky. Getting down to business, he reached into his pocket, pulled something out and handed it to Motoko. "Here, you'll need to wear this."

"Hmm?" Motoko examined the item she was just given. It looked to be a set of brass knuckles, except it only had three finger holes and each ring was set with what appeared to be a ruby, sapphire and emerald respectively. Of course, like Sean himself, appearances can be deceiving. Regardless, this was definitely not a weapon she was accustomed to, but something told her that wasn't its intended use. At first, she showed reluctance to put it on, but eventually complied, knowing Sean would never let harm come to her or anyone else under his care.

"Are you ready?" Sean asked.

"What will this do?" Motoko asked.

"You'll see," Sean said, his grin reminding Motoko of Suu--and that wasn't a good thing.

"What have I gotten myself into?" Motoko thought as Sean wrapped an arm around her waist, causing her to blush a bit. "What is he--" her thought ended in a gasp as she felt her feet lose contact with the ground. Despite herself, she held onto Sean tightly as they climbed about fifteen feet in the air. It wasn't that she was scared of heights or anything; this would have been unnerving for a lot of people.

"You alright?" Sean asked.

"I'll be fine," Motoko said, though she didn't sound as convincing as she would have liked. "It was just unexpected, that's all. Just don't drop me."

"Of course not," Sean said. "This had better work," he thought. "If it doesn't, she'll have my head." Reaching over, he tapped the red gem, which started to glow.

"What is this?" Motoko thought as a strange energy flowed through her. "This is unlike anything I have ever felt in my life." She was so distracted by this, she didn't notice one small detail until it was staring her in the face--literally.

"So, what do you think?"

"Huh?" Motoko snapped back to reality to see Sean in front of her. This meant that he wasn't holding her up--a fact she was quick to grasp. Instinctively, she braced herself for impact, but soon realized that the ground wasn't rushing up to meet her. "I..." she said, beginning to grasp the situation. "I am floating." She looked at the magical item on her hand for a few moments before glaring daggers at Sean. "You could have told me what this thing did beforehand."

"I could have," Sean said, grinning like an idiot. "But where's the fun in that?"

"I honestly think Kitsune's personality is rubbing off on you," Motoko said.

"Not as much as you think," Sean thought. "Now that the first test is done (and successfully, thank God), time for test number two. Whenever you're ready, touch the blue gem."

Motoko crossed her arms. "Not until you tell me what will happen if I do," she said. "I do not need another scare."

"Fair enough," Sean said. "I was done kidding around anyway. To put it simply, the blue one turns you invisible." With a snap of his fingers, a mirror appeared. "Here, you can see the results--you know what I mean."

Motoko pressed the blue button in an instant, before her mind could tell her otherwise. Once again, Motoko felt energy course through her, though this time it seemed somewhat different--don't ask her how. Through a force of will, she drifted forward to get a better look at where her reflection should have been.

"So it does work," Motoko thought. "I have turned invisible, just like he said I would." Despite herself, an evil grin appeared on her face. "That gives me an idea…"

"Alright, that's two for two," Sean said. "Time for the third. Motoko, turn visible again so we can proceed." After returning the mirror to the nothingness from which it came, he looked where Motoko had been, but saw only air. "Uh, Motoko?" He looked around for any sign of the swordswoman, but found none. "C'mon, this isn't funny!"

All of a sudden, he jolted forward, yelling in mild terror. "Motoko, that's enough!" he said, turning around and holding the back of his neck, where something pointy had made its presence felt.

Chuckling could be heard as Motoko phased back in, completely unarmed. In reality, she had only poked him with a fingernail. "You scare me, I scare you; it is only fair," she said. "I can certainly see why you came to me first."

"No kidding," Sean muttered. "There's no telling what Kitsune or Suu would do if they got their hands on that thing."

Motoko took note of Sean's grave tone just then. "I did not expect him to be so worried about this device's misuse," she thought. "Granted, flight and invisibility together can be quite dangerous in the wrong hands, but still... unless..." Curiosity taking over, and not bothering to wait for Sean to prompt her beforehand, she pressed the green button. Much to her surprise, nothing seemed to happen. "Um, Sean?"

"Yeah?" Sean said.

"I think this last button may be malfunctioning," Motoko said.

"Let me take a look," Sean said. Floating over, he reached toward Motoko's hand in order to examine his latest creation. However, contact was never made, as his hand passed right through hers as thought it was never there. "What the…?"

Most anybody else in Motoko's position probably would have felt faint at this point, but she was merely confused. "How did that happen?" she asked.

"I can think of only one reason," Sean said. Experimentally, he tried to touch Motoko again, first her arm, then her midsection, but failed both times. The only thing that was felt was a slight tingling sensation on Motoko's part where his hand passed through. "Yep, that's what I thought," Sean said. "There's nothing wrong with it at all."

"You mean that is what it is supposed to do?" Motoko asked incredulously.

"Yep," Sean said. "It makes it so that you can pass through solid objects--or vice versa."

"Why would you combine such varied effects into one item?" Motoko asked.

"Because I see it as necessary," Sean said. "Years ago, I considered what I would have as a super power--just one of those 'what if' sort of things, you know? Right away, I chose flight, but as I thought about it further, the others became requirements. The invisibility was so that I didn't cause a scene due to someone seeing me fly by. As for... well..." he motioned toward Motoko and her current condition. "It eliminates the risk of running into cars, birds and low-flying planes."

"I suppose that makes sense," Motoko said.

"I like to think so," Sean said. "Alright, I'll let you go back to what you were doing." He started to descend, but was stopped short by Motoko's voice.

"Is that all?"

"Well, everything works like it's supposed to," Sean reasoned. "What else is there to be done?"

"I think we should test the limits of this remarkable device."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "Something tells me you wouldn't have brought this up if you didn't already have something in mind."

Motoko nodded. "I wish to see how fast I can fly."

"That does sound interesting," Sean said. "What the hey, let's do it. We can't be gone for too long though, or else the other will start wondering where we're at." With that, they soared off to the east in what would eventually become a race to California.

---

Everyone who has played Dungeons and Dragons or similar games knows that creating magical items is a very draining and time-consuming endeavor. It is because of this that Sean's collection is not as large as it might have otherwise been. Of course, after a while, he began seeking out ways to get around this obstacle. One day, when working with Suu, it hit him: capacitors. If he is able to imbue something with pure magical energy, he should be able to use it later on to create items or, in video game terms, restore MP.

This was how the Energy Necklace was conceived. Soon after however, another issue would arise concerning the charging process. Originally, it involved Sean merely wearing it and having it slowly drain from his reserves. The downside to this was that it took a ridiculous amount of time and afterwards, it could never hold a charge for more than a day or two. Another energy source needed to be found…

--- Sunday, 5/11/2008 11:58 AM

"Lunch is ready!" Shinobu called out cheerfully from the kitchen. As she delivered the food to the dining room, the others filed in, none of which shared the cook's enthusiasm. This was in part due to the thunderstorm going on outside which had effectively confined everyone indoors for the duration.

"How can you be so happy on a dreary day like this?" Kitsune asked.

"I don't really mind the rain that much," Shinobu said. Just then, there was a clap of thunder, making her flinch a bit. "And I try not to think about that." As she set the last dish on the table, she saw that everyone had arrived. Well, almost everyone. "Where's Sean?"

"Probably still in his room, working on that battery-thing," Kitsune said.

"I'll go get him," Shinobu volunteered. Along the way, her mind recalled some of the details of Sean's latest project--and the problems it has given him as of late. "I hope he doesn't work himself too hard," she thought.

When she reached Sean's room, she found the door wide open. Shinobu saw this as odd and rightly so, as he always kept it closed (if not locked) whenever he was working. "Sean?" Shinobu called out as she poked her head inside only to discover the room devoid of life.

"Where could he have gone?" she wondered. Her logic reasoned that Sean was still in the dorm. After all, who would go into such god-awful weather of their own accord? Even if he did leave, he would certainly have told her about it beforehand.

Not wanting to waste time searching, Shinobu used her magical skills to find Sean. Granted, her senses were not nearly as attuned as Motoko's, but it was sufficient for detecting life signs. Aside from herself, she found a total of six, which accounted for everyone. (A/N: Keep in mind, this predates Mutsumi moving in by a month and a half.) Five of them formed a ring around the dining room table, while the sixth was located near the roof platform.

Without a second thought, Shinobu made her way upstairs. When she neared her destination, she found her boyfriend partway up the steps to the roof, just out of reach of the pounding rain outside. "What are you doing up here?" she asked. "Lunch is ready downstairs."

"Oh, sorry," Sean said, who was caught by surprise. "I guess I got too wrapped up in my thoughts."

As Sean turned around, Shinobu noticed two necklaces dangling from his fingers. "Did you come up with something?" she asked.

"I think so," Sean said. "It came to me as I watched the storm out there. Here's what I have in mind…"

---

"They should have been here by now," Naru said. "I wonder what's keeping them."

"I wish I knew," Motoko said truthfully, despite the fact she was well aware of Shinobu's magical output.

"I'm hungry," Suu whined.

Kitsune's stomach shared Suu's sentiment. "You think they would mind if we started without them?"

"YOU'RE GOING TO WHAT?" Shinobu's scream could easily be heard from anywhere in the dorm.

"Um…" Keitaro said, looking to the ceiling along with everyone else. "Would that be a yes or a no?"

---

Sean had expected that kind of reaction from Shinobu, but he still flinched due to the sheer volume of it. Then again, who could blame her?

Sean's prior experiments have taught him that raw magical energy is just too unstable to be contained for any extended length of time. He surmised that if he combined it with something else, he might be able to achieve his goal. His first thought was to use blood, but that idea got written off in an instant for obvious reasons.

A more reasonable option (if less gruesome) was electricity. If he used himself as a conduit, it was possible that the resulting mixture of energy could be sent into the capacitor and actually stay there. In short, this meant he was going to get struck by lightning--on purpose, no less.

"Are you even sure this is going to work?" Shinobu asked.

"Of course," Sean said. "Would I be going forward with it if I wasn't?" In truth, he had about as much confidence in his plan as Shinobu. After all, he had practically plucked the idea out of thin air an hour before. Of course, he wasn't about to tell her that.

"I don't know," Shinobu said, not as convinced as Sean would have liked. "It just sounds too risky."

"Don't worry about me; I'll be just fine," Sean said, in part trying to persuade himself as well. "Besides, I'm more afraid of what you might do to me if something did go wrong." It seemed like a joke, but for him, the concern was all too real. "You go on ahead. This shouldn't take long."

Before anyone could stop him, himself included, Sean stepped out into the downpour. When he reached the platform, he tossed one of the necklaces to the side. No sense in blowing both of them up, right? "Here goes nothing," he thought as he rose into the angry skies.

Meanwhile, Shinobu found herself unable to turn away, despite Sean's advise. "Please be safe," Shinobu thought over and over again as she watched her beloved ascend to a height of about thirty feet, the bauble clutched in his hands. Even though she could barely make him out him through the veritable wall of water, she knew that seeing the coming events would not be the issue.

Sean knew that just being up in the air did not make a lightning strike a certainty. Sure, water is as good a conductor as anything, but when it encompasses an area miles in radius, the benefit can be greatly diminished. Something had to be added to bring greater focus to nature's wrath; and what better thing to use than metal? If you were to look closely enough, you could see him conjure up little specks of aluminum, tin, copper and other choice metals, all orbiting around him. From there, it was only a matter of time…

---

Despite all cultural courtesy, the other tenants decided to begin eating without their cook and their landlord, using the logic that it would have been more rude to let Shinobu's cooking get cold right in front of them. During this time, Motoko sensed Sean above her, but only barely gave notice to it, as it has been a regular occurrence over the last year.

Lunch went by like any other, though one particular bolt of lightning drew everyone's attention. The strike was too close, too loud and lasted way too long for comfort.

"Wow," Kitsune said. "That was a big one, wasn't it?"

Everyone quickly returned their focus to their meal, but Motoko's mind was still elsewhere, mostly because Sean's energy spiked at that exact moment. "Please," she thought. "I hope you did not do what I think you did."

---

When it hit, the lightning was so bright, Shinobu was forced to look away from fear of being blinded; a fear eclipsed only by the knowledge that Sean was right in the middle of it. When the light went away, her gaze instantly went skyward and was relieved when she saw that her boyfriend was still there, none the worse for wear.

For Sean, this was certainly one of the most unique experiences of his life--and that was saying something. "Whoa," he whispered, trembling as he stared at the now glowing gem in his hands. "It worked…" It took a little while for that to sink in, but when it did, he didn't hold back. "WOO-HOO!" he cheered, descending back to solid ground near where he had placed the second necklace.

"Are you alright?" Shinobu called out.

"Are you kidding?" Sean asked, not bothering to wonder why she didn't head back downstairs. "That was cool! I'm glad I made two of these." After gently setting the charged capacitor down, he grabbed the empty one and jetted back up for another go. While he did this, Shinobu went inside, shaking her head. Despite everything, this wasn't something she wanted to see a second time.

---

Today, there are a total of six such necklaces. Four of them are fully charged, while two have been recently used and currently await the next thunderstorm.

The final products from the stored energy were two collars; the spiked kind usually worn by Goths. Naturally, they appeared perfectly ordinary, but for Sean, they are proof positive that inspiration can come when you least expect it.

After Sean's first leap into the realm of trans-species magic, even after the unpleasant business that resulted, he found himself wanting to pursue it further. Much to everyone's relief, he decided to make himself the one and only subject. However, this did not necessarily mean they enjoyed seeing the occasional strange animal walk the halls.

Eventually, Sean grew bored of the somewhat monotonous experimentation. The time had come to spice things up a bit. Little did he know what would come of it…

--- Wednesday, 5/12/2010 3:12 PM

"We're home," Shinobu called out as she, along with Suu and Motoko returned from another day at school.

"Hey," Kitsune said, acknowledging their arrival from her seat on the couch. "How was school?"

"Fine," Shinobu said. "Is Sean upstairs?"

"Actually, he's out in the hot spring," Kitsune responded. "And there's something he wants to show you."

"He did not turn himself into a dolphin, did he?" Motoko asked, partially in jest.

"Nope," Kitsune said. "No dolphins, no fish, no sea creatures of any sort."

"Thank you for telling me," Shinobu said as she stated toward the changing room.

"No problem, kiddo." As soon as the blue-haired teen was out of earshot, Kitsune found herself stifling laughter.

"What's so funny?" Suu asked.

"Shinobu's in for a surprise when she get out there."

"I thought you said Sean was not experimenting again," Motoko said, slightly confused.

"I only said it didn't involve fins and gills," Kitsune pointed out.

"So, do you know what he has turned himself into this time?" Motoko asked.

"Of course I do."

"Why did you not tell Shinobu?"

"What, and spoil the surprise?"

---

When Shinobu entered the changing room, her first thought was to change into a towel, but then decided to see what her boyfriend was up to and go from there. As she went through the door to the outside, she was taken aback by who--or perhaps more accurately, what--she saw.

If the creature had been seen in silhouette, it would have looked mostly human. Here and now, the tiger-striped fur, the cat ears and the long tail took precedence. At first, Shinobu could only stare at the cat-thing as it laid on its stomach, sunning itself. Even though its face was concealed by its arms, its identity was no great mystery. "Sean?"

The cat's ears perked at the sound of Shinobu's voice. As it turned onto its back, she instantly recognized Alicia's face, among other things--most notably that the fur did little to hide the normally blonde's womanly features. "Hello," Alicia said, draping her arms over her stomach and gazing at Shinobu which, from her perspective, was straight up. "You want to just stand there all day gaping or are you going to come here and give your kitty a hug?"

Shinobu shook her head to clear the cobwebs from her mind. "One would think I'd be used to this by now," she thought. "I really should stop being so surprised by what he does." She made her way towards Alicia who, by this time, had gotten to her feet.

Without a hint of hesitation, the couple embraced one another like they have so many times before, but for Shinobu, it was somewhat different than usual, for obvious reasons. "Wow," she thought, commenting on how soft Alicia's fur was to the touch. "It feels no nice, I… I…"

Alicia was almost immediately aware of Shinobu's hug growing tighter. Granted, it wasn't one of Suu's death squeezes by any means, but it was noticeable nonetheless. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

Shinobu broke off the hug, if only just barely. When her face came into view, Alicia could see that the younger girl was holding back tears--something she has gotten better at over the years. "It's just that…" Shinobu said. "Your… fur reminds me of the stuffed animals I used to find comfort in when I was little. Back then, they were the only things that could."

"Ah," Alicia said. "Well, you could think of this as an upgrade. Not only am I life-sized, but I also hug back."

Shinobu giggled a bit; which was music to Alicia's ears. "You have a point there."

When the couple finally separated, the tigress took a seat at the edge of the hot spring, an action Shinobu repeated after removing her socks, as she did not wish to get them wet. "So," Shinobu said. "What inspired you this time?"

Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "I just needed a change of pace. I guess it was just a matter of time before I started doing hybrids. So far, the only downside to this form is that the fur tends to make clothing very uncomfortable. All things considering, that may be as minor as it gets."

At some point during Alicia's explanation, Shinobu found herself mesmerized by a part of the cat-girl's anatomy that had been significantly altered when the transformation took place. "Those ears…" she thought. "They're so cute." Slowly and discretely, she rose her hand toward Alicia's head.

As soon as contact was made, the feline flinched, a startled meow escaping her lips. "Do you want me to stop?" Shinobu asked. At any other time or place, she probably would have already.

"No way," Alicia said, beginning to purr as Shinobu continued he ministrations. "This was a good idea," she thought. "A really good idea." A few minutes of contentment went by and another idea sparked in Alicia's mind; one she hoped was a brilliant as the last.

Naturally, Shinobu was surprised when she suddenly felt the small of her back grow warm. Looking over, she saw that it was Alicia's turn to be sneaky, but that still left one question unanswered. "What are you doing?"

"You'll see," the tigress said, a sly grin on her face, but the look in her eyes belied the enjoyment she was receiving from Shinobu still scratching her behind the ears.

Shinobu could feel the warmth slowly spread across her entire body. All the while, she had her eyes shut tight, as she did not want to see her skin glow, should that be the case. Soon, all at once, the heat was gone. At first, when she opened her eyes, she thought nothing had happened. This all changed when her gaze fell on her arm, which was covered in deep blue fur. "What did you do to me?" she blurted out.

"The same thing I did to myself," Alicia replied calmly. With a flick of the wrist she produced a mirror and held it out in front of them. "What do you think?"

As Shinobu looked at her reflection, she saw that she had been given feline features similar to Alicia's--and that she didn't look half bad as a cross-breed. "Wow," she finally said. "I look cute like this, don't you think?"

"Of course," Alicia said. "Then again, my answer is pretty biased. After all, I would probably say the same thing if you had severe cases of both bed head and PMS."

"I suppose you're right," Shinobu said. "You're also right about another thing," she added, squirming a bit. "Fur does make clothes a bit uncomfortable."

"What do you suppose we do about it?" Alicia asked.

It would not take long to remove Shinobu's high school uniform and everything underneath, especially considering it was a team effort. As the last article of clothing was tossed to the wayside, Shinobu took in her newly altered features.

Aside from the fur and those oh-so-adorable ears, she had three whiskers on each side of her face and a long tail that, thankfully, connected to the rest of hey body just above where her underwear had been moments before. She was so fascinated by her hybrid form that she almost didn't hear Alicia speak right next to her.

"It's times like this that remind me why I'm such a cat person--no pun intended," Alicia said. "Though it makes shaving your legs seem kind of pointless, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, no kidding," Shinobu giggled, partially due to Alicia's hand trailing up her back, past her neck, coming to a halt at the top of her head. "Ooh," she said, shuddering a bit. "That does feel nice."

"Told you," Alicia said as Shinobu's hand picked up where it had left off. Soon, the two cats were purring in unison. At some point, Alicia entertained the thought of how silly the scene might have looked should someone walk in on them, but only for a brief moment.

At first, they were content to just sit at the edge of the hot spring, scratching each other behind the ears, but an impulse hit Alicia's brain that changed all that. Without warning, the tigress pounced, their lips meeting before Shinobu's back hit the ground.

Of course, Shinobu was stunned by this turn of events, but quickly got swept into the moment. "You planned that didn't you?" she asked after they broke the kiss.

"No, but it makes me wish I had," Alicia said. "But it does give me an idea."

"Does it now?" Shinobu said. Not even waiting for an explanation--not that it was ever really needed--they engaged in another, more tender kiss. Before long, they found themselves going at it like cats in… never mind.

The very next day, the two Cat-Girl Collars were created, a new fetish was born, and Sean's animal transformation experiments officially came to an end.

End of Chapter of Chapter LXII 

Perhaps not my best work, but I felt I needed something in between plot points. Whether I actually get the chapter up sometime this... decade... has yet to be seen, so don't get your hopes up. In regards to my other work in progress, I have decided to wait to upload more until (if and when) I complete it. Until next time, please R&R! 


	66. Ch63: Love Conquers All

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH. 

Back so soon, eh? Well, I've had this chapter brewing for the longest time, so it was natural that I got this one done quickly. Let the evilness commence!

Chapter LXIII: Love Conquers All

As we live out our lives, we may not think through every decision we make or action we take. As trivial or insignificant as they may seem at the time, they could have untold effects on the future. When this happens, usually all that can be done is reflect on those past exploits with 20/20 hindsight.

Perhaps the most common contemplation involves something that was said or, more likely, not said. Whether it be a confession of love, a plead for forgiveness or even an admission of guilt, keeping quiet can certainly lead to misery and remorse. Most who suffer from this thought that the circumstances of their silence would last forever--or at least long enough for them to bring up the courage to come clean.

When everything eventually falls apart around you, all you may be able to think about is what might have been and you yearn for that one chance to set things right--an opportunity that may never present itself.

--- Friday, 6/11 1:10 AM

It was a cloudless night over the town of Hinata Springs; something that allowed the stars and the full moon to illuminate everything the street lights did not. Included in this was a certain room in a certain building. The building was the Hinata-Sou apartments, and the room was the private quarters of one Naru Narusegawa.

Currently, said girl is laying on her futon, sleeping soundly. Because of this, she was completely unaware of the shadow that took shape in the rectangle of light on the floor. Slowly and silently, the form crept over to where Naru slept.

Naru's trip through dreamland was only slightly disturbed when a hand nudged her shoulder. At first, it was easily ignored, but when the nudge became more of a shove, it forced her into consciousness.

"Keitaro what are you--" she muttered as she rolled over, but the sentence died in her throat and her eyes opened wide when she saw that this was definitely not her boyfriend.

Before Naru could scream, a cloth rag was placed over her nose and mouth. The chloroform in the rag quickly seeped into the girl's system, rendering her unconscious.

As soon as Naru stopped struggling, the intruder picked her up, slung her over one shoulder and went back out the window. Once they were a safe distance from the dorm, a hand retrieved a walkie-talkie from a pants pocket. "The target has been acquired."

"You encountered no difficulties?" a voice asked from the other end.

"None at all. Frankly, it was all too easy."

"Excellent. Return to base so we can prepare for the next phase."

"Roger that." With that, the abductor sped off into the night, Naru in tow.

--- 7:14 AM

"What a beautiful morning," Sean said as he and Shinobu prepared breakfast. As of this point, neither of them have the slightest clue as to what had happened hours before.

"Yeah," Shinobu said. "It kind of makes you want to lay around and do nothing all day."

Sean raised an eyebrow. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were hanging around Kitsune too much."

"Haven't heard any complaints from you so far," Shinobu muttered, then busted out laughing at the weird look Sean gave her.

"Whatever happened to the innocent girl I met three years ago?" Sean asked.

"She went into puberty," Shinobu said. "This feels kind of weird," she said after things calmed down. "I'm so used to making more food in the mornings."

"I know what you mean," Sean said. Over the last few days, half of the residents have taken a leave of absence.

The first one to go was Mutsumi, who went to Okinawa to visit her rather extensive family. Despite being an only child, Sean could identify with this, as he has a long list of aunts, uncles, cousins (especially cousins) and probably a couple second cousins he doesn't even know about.

Next, Suu went off to computer camp somewhere, but from the way it sounded, she was going as a counselor or something like that.

Motoko traveled to Kyoto to see her sister. The reasoning for her visit was described as "settling some unfinished business." Even from that, it didn't sound like she was going there to shoot the breeze, but all suspicions were confirmed when Jimmy agreed to come along to make sure things didn't get out of hand--a piece of irony Sean picked up in an instant.

Last, but certainly not least was Kitsune. She had decided to try her hand at being a sports writer and had accompanied a local baseball team on a road trip.

This left Sean, Shinobu, Keitaro and Naru to enjoy the relative peace the others' not being there would bring--or so they originally thought.

--- 7:20 AM

Keitaro was slowly roused by the sound of knocking. Still half-asleep, he shuffled over and opened the door, upon which he found Sean before him. "Yeah?" he muttered.

"Breakfast is almost ready," Sean said.

Keitaro nodded a bit. "Alright," he said. "I'll go get Naru."

"Okay," Sean said. Inwardly, he was thankful for this, since history has shown that Naru tends to take a wake up call better if it's Keitaro doing it. For anybody else… well, it can be like trying to wake a hibernating bear--and just as painful.

Closing the door, Keitaro made his way to the trap door, briefly pondering Sean's secret to being such a morning person. "Naru, time to wake up," he said as he poked his head through the hole…

---

"They'll be down in a minute," Sean said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Alright," Shinobu said, only briefly diverting her attention from the food she was just about to transport to the dining room.

"Seriously though," Sean said, moving to assist his girlfriend. "Did you have anything planned for today?"

"I was thinking about going on a Legacy run," Shinobu said.

"Sounds fun," Sean said.

What Shinobu referred to was an NES game from the late '80s called Legacy of the Wizard. Despite its relative anonymity in the video game world, even when it was first released, it quickly became one of Sean's favorites. After watching him play it (both on the outside and the inside), Shinobu decided to give it a go (again, both outside and inside) and found it to be to her liking as well.

Just as they were bringing out the last of the morning meal, Shinobu spotted Keitaro at the base of the stairs, his face unnervingly pale. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"There's something you need to see," Keitaro said, his voice barely more than a squeak. Not even waiting for a response, he went back up from whence he came.

Without hesitation, Sean and Shinobu followed in Keitaro's footsteps; a path that lead to Naru's room. "Is she sick or something?" Sean asked.

Keitaro only shook his head, the expression on his face appearing to say "I wish". He opened the door, revealing a surprisingly vacant room.

"Where is she?" Shinobu asked.

"I don't know," Keitaro said. "When I went to tell her breakfast was ready, she was already gone.

"Hmm…" Sean strode into the room and knelt down next to Naru's futon.

"Did you find something?" Shinobu asked.

"Yeah, I did," Sean said, taking out a piece of paper that had been tucked almost completely under the pillow. As he read it, Shinobu and Keitaro could already tell it wasn't good news. "…Oh no…"

"What? What happened?" Keitaro asked, making the transition from petrified to panicked.

Sean sighed before rereading it out loud. "Keitaro, if you want to see Naru again, come to the address provided…"

"Naru's been kidnapped!" Shinobu cried.

"Seems that way," Sean said. Without warning, the note was snatched from his hands. Looking up, he found Keitaro reading it for a moment before heading for the door. "Hey, where are you off to?" As if the question needed to be asked.

"To get Naru back, what else?" Keitaro shot back.

Shinobu was still in shock, so she was no obstacle, but Sean was another story, as he suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Now hold on," he said. "You need to calm down."

"Calm down? Calm down!" Keitaro yelled. "The woman I love has been taken from me and you tell me to calm down! What would you do if you lost Shinobu?"

For a moment, Sean looked at Shinobu, who had snapped out of her daze at the sound of her name. "Alright," Sean said. "You made your point. But still, you can't just charge in like that--that's just what the kidnappers want you to do. Besides, in your current state of mind, you would agree to whatever demands they make."

"Okay," Keitaro said, still fuming a bit. "What do you propose I do instead?"

"We need to think this through," Sean said. "Come up with a plan to free Naru and punish whoever it was who did this."

"What kind of punishment did you have in mind?" Keitaro asked, starting to warm up to the idea.

Sean merely shrugged his shoulders. "I know I'll think of something when the time comes."

Keitaro accepted that answer, knowing he has done some truly evil things in the name of vengeance.

It took a little cajoling, but Keitaro finally relaxed somewhat and accompanied Sean and Shinobu downstairs for breakfast. After all, you can't go on a rescue mission on an empty stomach, right? While they ate, they discussed the current situation.

"Who do you think is responsible for this?" Keitaro asked.

"I'm not sure," Sean said. "But whoever they are, they know both you and Naru, at the very least, since they referred to both of you by name. That says to me that this was not some random incident."

"Why would someone target Naru?" Shinobu asked. "She hasn't wronged anybody."

"Aside from Keitaro and myself, you're probably right about that," Sean said. "Plus, I think the real target in all this is Keitaro."

"Me?" Keitaro asked, genuinely confused. "Why do you think that?"

"Well, for one, the letter was written specifically to you," Sean said. "That must mean they want something from you."

"But why kidnap Naru?" Shinobu asked.

"I seriously doubt there's a better way to get something from him, especially if it's something he wouldn't willingly give."

Keitaro didn't respond to that. Sure, Sean's logic made some sense, but that didn't mean he had to like it. He just couldn't fathom why someone would be so desperate to get to him that they would abduct Naru in the dead of night. It wasn't as though he had any enemies--well, none he was aware of, anyway.

After breakfast, the three set about preparing themselves for the coming operation. All the while, one thought kept nagging at Keitaro's mind. "Hey, Sean," he said as they were about to head out. "Do you think Naru's going to be alright?"

"I wouldn't doubt it," Sean said. "She's the only bargaining chip they have against you right now. If they know what they're doing, they won't hurt her."

"I hope you're right about that," Keitaro said.

"Alright," Sean said. "Let's go." With that, they went out the front door. Shortly thereafter, Keitaro watched the two wizards vanish before his very eyes.

"Hey, where did you guys go?" he asked, thinking they might have left him behind.

"We haven't gone anywhere," Sean said telepathically.

"We just turned invisible, that's all," Shinobu added.

"Why did you do that?" Keitaro asked out loud.

"We thought it would be the smart thing to do," Shinobu said.

"I don't follow," Keitaro said, this time using the telepathic link.

"When I read that note they left in Naru's room," Sean said, "I got an implied message that they wanted you to go alone. Besides, who knows what they might do to Naru if they saw you coming with an escort. Neither of us want anything to happen to you or her, and we're not going to let it happen if we can help it."

"Thank you," Keitaro said. "I wish everyone could have friends like you."

Keitaro was silent and appeared to be calm as he and his invisible support team walked the streets of Hinata. This was designed to avoid attracting any undesired attention. Besides, the address on the note wasn't too far anyway.

After what felt like an eternity, at least for Keitaro, they finally reached their destination. To anyone else, it seemed an ordinary house, but they knew Naru was in there somewhere and, through Hell or high water, they were going to get her out.

"Don't even bother knocking," Sean said as they approached the door. "They should be expecting you, right?"

Keitaro was a bit hesitant at first, but convinced himself that this was not the time to be squeamish. When he opened the door, the sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks.

There before him, staring him right in the face, was none other than Naru, duct tape covering her mouth and bound to a chair. "Naru…"

The girl who had taken on an air of helplessness perked up at the sound of her beloved's voice and a look of hope shone in her eyes.

Keitaro took a few steps forward, but abruptly halted when he heard the front door slam shut behind him. What followed was a voice he immediately recognized. "Hello, oniichan."

"K-Kanako?" Keitaro said, turning around. Sure enough, there was his sister, standing in front of the door, arms crossed. He couldn't help but think she looked older and more… uh… mature since they last crossed paths, but he quickly pushed that thought aside. "How long has it been? A couple years?"

"Two years, two months to the day," Kanako corrected. "What took you so long? I was expecting you to get here a lot sooner."

"Um…" Keitaro blushed a bit, holding the back of his head. "I would have, but when I read the note you left, I… uh… passed out." This was just one of the answers they had prepared during the trip.

"That's my oniichan," Kanako said fondly.

"Incestuous slut," Sean thought-spoke as he wandered over to where Naru was tied up.

"What are you going to do?" Shinobu asked.

"You'll see."

"So," Keitaro said, trying to stall for time like he had been instructed; he was never told why. "What have you been up to all this time?"

Kanako breathed an indignant huff. "After I was so unceremoniously removed from Hinata-Sou, I went back to accompanying Granny Hina on her worldwide tour, but I would come back every few months to check up on you and your relationship with that hussy over there."

At the utterance of that word, Naru redoubled her past efforts to break free, but the knots that held her were tied exceptionally well and did not give in the slightest.

"Why did you do all this?" Keitaro asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" Kanako asked back. "I wanted to reach out to you so badly, but I couldn't so long as you had your friends around you, especially that wizard."

There was extra venom in her tone on that last word; something that made Sean grin evilly. Shinobu thought this was odd, as Kanako only referred to one spellcaster, which could only mean she was unaware of her abilities--something she hoped to take advantage of should the need arise.

"I just happened to be around when half the dorm left," Kanako continued. "I knew I would never have a better chance to make my move. On that note, I'm a bit surprised Sean and Shinobu didn't come with you, especially considering how long it took for you to get here."

Keitaro shook his head. "They don't know I'm here," he said. He hated to lie to anyone, especially his sister, but these were desperate times.

Kanako actually seemed a tad disappointed. "Oh well. No matter, they'll find out the big news soon enough."

"What news?" Keitaro asked.

"That you broke up with Naru in order to be with me."

"WHAT!" Keitaro cried. "I love Naru! I would never break up with her!"

"Are you sure?" Kanako asked, sauntering up toward her brother. "Nobody loves you like I do. You've just never given me the chance to prove it."

"Kanako, you've always been a little sister to me," Keitaro said. "There's no way I'll ever see you any differently."

"We'll see about that," Kanako said, now invading Keitaro's comfort zone. "I can be very persuasive, you know."

"Shouldn't we be doing something right about now?" Shinobu asked.

"Not yet," Sean said. "He can handle himself for the moment."

"Kanako, this isn't right," Keitaro stammered, trying to keep his sister at arm's length and no closer.

"Maybe to you, but I won't release your precious Naru otherwise," Kanako said, thinking she held all the cards.

"But what about her?" Keitaro asked. "She'll be heartbroken and alone if I do what you say."

"Oh, she won't be alone," another voice said. Turing around, Keitaro saw another familiar face walk in. "She'll be with me."

"Kentaro…" The number of times Keitaro has been truly angry could possibly be counted on one hand, but one just got added to the list. "You're in on this!"

"More than that," Kentaro said. "It was my idea."

"I met him a few months ago during one of my visits," Kanako said proudly. "We discovered that we had much in common and decided to team up to solve our mutual problem."

"Yes," Kentaro said, approaching Naru (passing right through Sean in the process). "For too long I have seen this beauty waste her time with a loser like you." Despite some resistance, he placed a hand on Naru's chin. "Now, with you out of the way, she can know what it truly means to be loved."

"Keitaro," Sean said. "The preparations are complete. All you have to do know is get Kentaro away from Naru."

"How do I do that?" Keitaro thought.

"I don't know, get him angry or something."

"You know what?" Keitaro blurted, interrupting another of Kentaro's long-winded speeches explaining his traits and Keitaro's shortcomings. "Even if I were to break up with her, regardless of the reason, Naru would never be with you."

"What?" Kentaro said, an eyebrow starting to twitch.

"That's right," Keitaro continued. "You should know by now that she doesn't care for pompous, arrogant asses who can't take no for an answer; and you're the king of them all."

"Why you…" Kentaro said, walking toward Keitaro, cracking his knuckles.

"Don't mess him up too badly," Kanako said, stepping to the side. "Especially that cute face of his." Secretly, she looked forward to seeing her brother be put in his place. After all, a relationship without her as the dominant one wasn't exactly something she had in mind.

"Okay, now hold still…" Keitaro actually heard this from Sean as opposed to Kentaro; this was the only reason why he did as he was told.

"I'm going to enjoy this," Kentaro chuckled. As soon as he came within striking distance, he reared a fist back to deliver the first and what should be the only blow. His punch would connect, just not with what he expected. "What the hell…?" he asked as his fist hovered a full eighteen inches from its intended target.

"No…" Kanako thought. "It couldn't be…"

But it was. Shortly after the attack failed, Sean dissolved into being, standing right beside Keitaro and holding Kentaro's fist in his hand. The next message he sent to Keitaro's mind was short and to the point. "Go to Naru, now!"

"Oh no you don't!" Kanako yelled when she saw her lover-to-be rush to aid her rival. She tried to intercept him, but suddenly, a blue blur appeared, tackling her and sending her to the floor. "You…" she gasped, having completely forgotten about the female mage of Hinata-Sou.

"Don't worry," Keitaro said when he reached Naru. "Everything's going to be alright. We're going to get you out of here." Just as he was about to start on the knots, something amazing happened.

It was then that a circle of light appeared on the floor around the couple, sending its radiance throughout the entire room. "No…" Kanako moaned, reaching out from her prostrate position to stop or at least disrupt what was going on, but the circle was just beyond her reach. As for Kentaro, he was preoccupied elsewhere. As quickly as the circle arrived, it left, taking Keitaro and Naru with it.

---

"Wow." That was all Keitaro could say. He had been teleported before, but not in a very long time and never in such dramatic fashion. The only thing that broke him out of his reverie was some incoherent mumbling from Naru. "Oh, sorry," he said, getting to work on the ropes that still bound her.

After a minute or two of trying to undo the knots, he gave up, resigning to his sister's ingenuity. Then, an idea popped in his head and he rushed off to the kitchen. Along the way, he mouthed a silent thanks to some higher power--or to Sean and Shinobu, who's to say?

Keitaro would return from the kitchen with a knife in hand and proceeded to cut Naru loose, being extra careful not to cut her as he did so. Once that was done, the first thing she did after stretching out her aching limbs was wrap Keitaro in a tight embrace, thankful for not having to bear the disgrace of being Kentaro's girlfriend.

However, there was still one thing that needed to be done; something Naru was quick to point out once they separated. "Um…" Keitaro said, noting the duct tape that continued to prevent Naru from using any intelligible speech. "I was kind of hoping you would do it."

Naru rolled her eyes at that, but she could see why Keitaro said what he did, since he always hated to cause pain for anyone, especially friends and loved ones. Taking a deep breath, she reached up and ripped the tape off all at once.

The resulting yelling and cursing (not all caused by the pain) was somewhat expected, and Keitaro was glad nobody else was home at the time--which brought up the next point of discussion. "What do you think Sean and Shinobu are going to do to them?" Despite everything, he was still concerned about his sister's well-being. On the flip side, he couldn't care less about what happens to Kentaro.

"Whatever they do, they deserve every bit of it," Naru said. "I only hope they let me get my licks in when they're done."

"Mm hmm," Keitaro muttered, looking nervously off to the side.

"What's wrong?" Naru asked, her anger spent for the time being.

"There's something I've been meaning to ask you for a while now," Keitaro said. "What happened today made me realize that I should probably do it now while I still have the chance."

"And what's that?" Naru asked, her curiosity piqued.

Reaching into his pocket, Keitaro pulled out a small box. Going down on one knee, he opened the box to reveal a beautiful ring. "Naru, would you do me the honor of becoming my wife?"

Naru was speechless. Yes, she had future plans for marriage, but she figured there wouldn't be a proposal for maybe another year. Who knows, if certain people hadn't just interfered, that might have been the case. Gently placing a finger under Keitaro's chin, she coaxed him onto his feet, at which point their lips met in a passionate kiss.

"Is that a yes?" Keitaro asked afterward.

"Of course it is," Naru said. "He may be a clueless idiot sometimes," she thought. "But he's my clueless idiot, and there's nothing on this planet that can change that."

"Well," Keitaro said, having not thought this far ahead. "What do we do now?"

"Sean and Shinobu should be gone for a while," Naru reasoned, grinning. "I think we should take advantage of having the dorm all to ourselves, don't you?"

---

"Oniichan…" Kanako whispered. Her hand still reached toward where her brother had been just moments before, but she was forced to face facts: her plan had completely fallen apart. It was then that she diverted her attention to the blue-haired sorceress still sitting on top of her.

"You…" she said, despair quickly turning to hatred. "You bitch!" She followed this up with a slap to the face with enough force to knock Shinobu flat on the floor.

"Oh, you didn't…" Sean suddenly switched his grip from Kentaro's fist to his wrist and, with a quick yank, sent him face first into the nearest wall. "You're going to regret doing--"

"Shut up!" Kanako interrupted as she stood up. To say she was fuming would have been an understatement. "This is all your fault! My Oniichan and I would be happy together right now if it wasn't for you! This was entirely a personal matter and one you didn't need to get yourself involved in!"

"Let's see, one friend gets kidnapped while another gets blackmailed; that sounds like it's my business, doesn't it?" Sean said. "Besides that, you just assaulted my girlfriend, which earns you my full attention."

"Wait," Shinobu said, getting up, her hand on the side of her face and looking none too happy. "Allow me."

"Are you sure?" Sean asked.

"I can handle myself," Shinobu responded. "Besides, I think there's someone else you should deal with first."

Sean's eyes followed Shinobu's outstretched finger and saw Kentaro, who was starting to recover from the blow he had been dealt. "Good point," Sean said. "Go ahead, but don't be too hard on her, alright? I want her in good condition for her punishment."

"No problem," Shinobu said.

Kanako saw all this as utterly ridiculous, even to the point where she could barely keep from laughing out loud. From what she has seen, Shinobu is the kind of girl who wouldn't harm a fly. What could such a pacifist ever do to her? "This'll be too easy," she thought.

Meanwhile, Kentaro had fully removed himself from the wall and was giving Sean a death glare. This wasn't even close to surprising, since it looked like he might be suffering from a broken nose. Letting his rage guide his actions, he charged, fist raised to return the favor and then some.

Sean saw the attack coming and easily dodged to the side. As the battle went on, Kentaro delivered one wild swing after another, all of which Sean blocked or evaded almost effortlessly. In fact, this task was so simple, the only magic he employed was a minor agility enhancement just to be on the safe side.

"I don't believe this," Sean thought after a little while. "I'm holding back this much and I'm still getting bored. I think it's time to end this." Once he saw an opening--which wasn't difficult by any stretch of the imagination--he reached out and grabbed Kentaro by the neck.

At first, Kentaro thought Sean was going to choke him, but quickly realized his adversary wasn't applying enough force for that. Seeing an opportunity present itself, he readied himself to beat Sean's head in, but before he got the chance, a strong electrical pulse shot through his body and everything went limp.

"How do you like that?" Sean asked. "Shocking, huh?"

Kentaro tried to curse him out, but nothing came out of his mouth. His body had been paralyzed from the neck down, and that included his voice box. The only thing that kept him from slumping down to the floor like a sack of potatoes was Sean holding him up by the neck. It would have been a simple matter to just knock him out, but Sean wanted his subject to remain conscious--at least for now.

"Alright, that's one down…" Sean said, turning around to see how Shinobu was doing, and was shocked by what he saw.

Kanako was once again on her back, groaning while Shinobu stood overtop her, one foot planted on her conquest's stomach. "Hey," Shinobu said, grinning. "What took you so long?"

Initially, Sean wondered how his girlfriend defeated Kanako so quickly, but then shook his head, figuring he didn't really want to know. "Okay then," he eventually said. "Time for the punishment to truly begin." He let go of Kentaro, but used a levitation spell to keep him upright and close at hand.

"You settled on something, then?" Shinobu asked.

"Yeah," Sean said, walking over to Kanako and had her paralyzed and levitated as well. "I know just what to do with these two." Once everything was situated, he transported the entire group back to Hinata-Sou.

As a group, they navigated through the dorm, Sean leading the way and Shinobu following right behind him, accompanied by the floating forms of the two villains. Throughout the trip, Shinobu couldn't help but wonder where they were going, but when they reached the third floor, she could fathom a guess. That was when Sean stopped unexpectedly.

"Is something wrong?" Shinobu asked.

"No," Sean said, facing the door to Naru's room. "Not at all." Shinobu could swear she could see his eyes glow blue between blinks before an evil grin appeared on his face. "I just got a great idea."

With a wave of his hand, Kanako and Kentaro wafted over to him and he had them face the door as well. "This should be interesting," he thought as he covered their eyes with his hands. When he removed them a couple moments later, the two captives could see through the door as though it was never there--and they both gasped at the scene before them.

"You see that?" Sean whispered into the ear of both of them. "I bet you would like to be in there, wouldn't you?" He followed this up with a low, creepy, "Hmhmhm" type of laughter.

"Oh, God," Kanako thought. "He's torturing me--again!"

"Oh, God," Kentaro thought. "She's more beautiful than I ever imagined."

Needless to say, Shinobu was wondering what the attraction was, so she activated her own x-ray vision spell and was stunned to find Keitaro and Naru making love right in front of her. "Sean, what are you doing!" she hissed, appalled that her boyfriend would violate their privacy like that.

"I'm adding insult to injury," Sean said, not missing a beat. "Letting them know what they'll be missing out on. And now that you've caught a glimpse of what might have been, I think it's time to move on to the meat of your sentence. For that, I will need you to take a little nap. Pleasant dreams." With that, along with a tap to the forehead, Kanako and Kentaro fell into a deep sleep.

"Was that really necessary?" Shinobu asked as they continued down the hallway, a small blush still on her face.

"I thought it was a nice touch," Sean said. "Call it poetic justice." Just before reaching his destination, a thought struck him. "Hey, did you see a ring on Naru's finger back there?"

Despite her reservations, Shinobu thought back to that one brief glimpse she had. "Now that I think of it, I believe she did."

"I thought so," Sean said, nodding his head. "Good for them."

---

Both Kentaro and Kanako would wake up with a start at roughly the same time. Right away, they noticed that they could move of their own will, and Kentaro said the first thing that came to mind. "I'm really starting to hate that guy."

"Join the club," Kanako muttered. Getting up, they found themselves in a semi-futuristic city--or what was left of it. "Where the hell are we?"

"I'm not sure," Kentaro said. "Though it does look kind of familiar. I just can't put my finger on it right now. What matters now is how we're going to get back."

Scanning their surroundings, the duo saw someone off in the distance. "Hello there!" Kentaro called out.

"You say hello," the guy in the jet black combat suit muttered to himself. "I say goodbye." Without another word, he leveled his rocket launcher…

---

"Ah, dealing out punishment can be so gratifying, you know?" Sean asked as he and Shinobu left Suu's room.

"I guess," Shinobu said. "How long do you think it will take them to realize they're in Halo?" (A/N: Before you get on me--again--I deliberately left out whether it was Halo 1 or 2 since there might be a 3 or even a 4 by the time 2010 rolls around.)

"Probably ten seconds after they die," Sean responded.

"Don't you think you're being a bit harsh on them?" Shinobu asked.

"Not really," Sean said. "It's not like I'm actually killing them or anything."

Shinobu shook her head. "At any rate, they're going to be pretty angry when you let them out."

There was a look of confusion on Sean's face. "Let them out?" he asked. "Who said anything about letting them out?"

---

Later on, Sean informed Naru and Keitaro of what had transpired while they were… occupied. At first, they were upset that they had an audience, and rightly so, but when they heard him explain his reasoning, they found themselves glad to have played a role, albeit unintentionally, and that they had put on a good show.

Aside from the small celebration commemorating the newly found engagement, the rest of the weekend went by filled with the peace they had hoped to get when half of the residents took their leave. Of course, like all good things, it was all too fleeting.

--- Monday, 6/14 11:12 AM

"I'm back!" Kitsune announced when she came in the front door.

"Hey, Kitsune," Sean said. He, along with Keitaro and Naru were lounging in the living room while Shinobu was getting lunch started. "How was the road trip?"

"Pretty good," Kitsune said, taking a seat in a chair. "We took four out of six. So, anything interesting happen?"

The trio on the couch exchanged looks, and all of them found themselves grinning. This caught Kitsune by surprise, since she figured things must have been pretty dull while she was gone. "Oh, no," she thought. "What did I miss?"

End of Chapter LXIII

Ties up a couple loose ends, and a major plot point to boot. Not bad for my story's second anniversary, huh? See you next time! Please R&R!


	67. Ch64: Wedding Bells

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH.

Chapter LXIV: Wedding Bells 

When Motoko, Suu and Mutsumi came home (not necessarily in that order), they were all overjoyed to hear of Keitaro's and Naru's engagement. Overall, they, along with Sean, Shinobu and Kitsune, were more than happy to tell the story, but they all agreed beforehand that there were certain events from that day that should be kept under wraps.

Things did not even begin to calm down from there, since preparations for the wedding commenced almost immediately. Granted, there have been cases were a couple remained engaged for a matter of years, but this one would not be so. When asked why, Naru and Keitaro reasoned that they wanted to be wed as soon as reasonably possible, lest something or someone else try to break them apart.

The first major decision to make was whether to have a traditional Japanese wedding or a western style one, at least partially in honor of the one who had brought them together in the first place and helped them stay that way on more than one occasion. (A/N: I refer you to Ch40: Love on Trial, Ch55: Answered Prayers and, of course, Ch63: Love Conquers All.) In response to this, Sean told them to have whatever kind of ceremony they wanted, and that his opinion should not influence their decision.

…And so, plans for a western style wedding went under way. Given such short notice, it might have made life at Hinata-Sou more chaotic than it already was, if that was even possible, but everyone played their respective roles to perfection and everything went rather smoothly.

The whole process would have been more complicated, or at least more costly if they didn't have magical aid. Naturally, Shinobu offered to handle the catering, as well as most of the decorations, which were otherwise designed by the other girls. Meanwhile, Sean opted to take care of the reception and also acted as tailor.

Despite his willingness to help, there were those things he chose not to get involved in. As the day of the wedding drew closer, plans came into being for a bachelor and bachelorette party, arranged by Jimmy and Kitsune respectively. At one point or another, both of them requested that Sean attend, but he flatly refused, mostly because they wanted him there as the entertainment.

After what seemed like an eternity, the day of the ceremony finally arrived. However, despite any amount of planning, there will always be room for the unexpected.

--- Saturday, 8/26 6:30 AM

"What a beautiful morning," Shinobu thought as she rummaged through her closet. Even at that early hour, you could tell there wasn't a cloud in the sky. "We couldn't have picked a better day for the wedding if we tried."

She would most likely already be squealing in anticipation if Sean wasn't still asleep. Most people would see the sight as cute, though few would actually see more than an ordinary cat. Every now and again, both of them take feline forms before going to bed, though Shinobu chose not to do so that particular night.

Once she was dressed for the day--or at least part of it--she went downstairs for what would no doubt become a marathon in meal preparation. If there was ever going to be a day for her to be tired of cooking afterwards, this would be it, though she would never admit or even acknowledge it. "At least the wedding cake's already done," she thought. Granted, said cake was by no means the largest in the world, it was of enough importance to be made ahead of time.

"Good morning," someone said from the living room couch when Shinobu passed by.

"Good morning," Shinobu said back, but she was so preoccupied with the myriad of recipes going through her head that she didn't pay that much attention. It wasn't until she was about to step into the kitchen that everything finally sank in. Turning around, she found a couple familiar faces that she didn't expect to see. "What are you two doing here?" she asked.

"What, you expect me to miss an event like this?" Stephanie asked.

"That goes for me as well," Amy added. "Besides, given the circumstances, it would do Naru a great disservice if I was not present for her wedding."

"On top of that, it's been so long since you last paid us a visit," Stephanie said.

"Well, things have been pretty busy lately," Shinobu said.

"Don't worry about it," Stephanie said before Shinobu could get apologetic. "I've seen more weddings than I can count, so I know just how crazy it can be."

"Morning." Thee three ladies turned their attention to the stairs, where Sean, still in feline form, just made his presence known.

"Did I wake you up?" Shinobu asked as Sean jumped into her arms.

"Kinda," Sean thought-spoke. After all, those cat ears were not exactly for decoration. "It's just as well, al things considering."

"You don't look very surprised to see us," Stephanie said, though how she could tell one way or the other was anybody's guess.

Sean stared blankly at the two goddesses. "Should I be?"

"You knew they were coming?" Shinobu asked, idly scratching Sean behind the ears.

"No," Sean said. "But if it had come up, I wouldn't have written it off."

"Linda wanted to come too," Amy said. "But something came up at the last minute that she couldn't postpone."

"She had to go test someone?" Sean asked.

"Yeah," Stephanie said, all traces of a smile now gone--something that wasn't lost on Shinobu.

"It isn't going to go well, is it?"

Stephanie shook her head. "You could tell just by looking at her. I tell you, stripping someone of their talents is the one thing she despises more than anything else. To think, all that potential wasted because the chump is morally corrupt."

"Makes me feel kind of fortunate," Sean muttered. "It's a shame you won't be there to make her fell better after such ugly business."

"Don't worry about her," Stephanie said. "She won't be alone." Her grin reappeared with a vengeance. "Besides, there's always tomorrow."

"Very true," Sean said.

"On that note, when are you two going to come see us again?" Amy asked.

Sean turned to look at Shinobu for a moment before responding. "We'll see," he said. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to hit the hot spring before the other guests arrive." Jumping down from his perch, he started toward the changing room.

"Are you going to bathe in it or clean it?" Shinobu asked.

"First one, then the other," Sean answered as he left the room. "Happy event or not, this is going to be a long day."

Shinobu didn't respond to that, at least partially because of her dislike of such thoughts. Instead, she went into the kitchen to start breakfast.

One by one, each of the residents woke up and, after their regular, if abbreviated morning routines, started making last-minute preparations.

Throughout the whole affair, Suu's greatest contribution was perhaps her noninvolvement. To pass the time on this day, she decided to talk shop with Amy, who had shown some obvious discomfort in the social environment of Hinata-Sou. It would not be hard to say that the goddess would be one of the few people who could keep up with the gaijin's techno-speak stride for stride, and found herself more in her element because of it.

As the morning wore on, the relatives started to arrive. It was a general consensus that this would be a private ceremony, only involving immediate family. As the Urashimas and Narusegawas showed up, in that order, they were introduced to the rest of the wedding party (And did a double take upon seeing both Naru and Amy in the same room.).

By the time lunch came and went, all of the in-laws had gotten acquainted with one another. Thankfully, there were no major hang-ups during this process, but just when things were going smoothly, someone just had to spring their surprise. Then again, the best surprises always seem to happen when you least expect them…

--- 1:03 PM

"Who could that be?" Naru asked when there was a knock at the door. To her knowledge, everyone was already there, including the minister.

"I'll get it," Sean said, getting up before anyone else had the chance to. Opening the door, he smiled when he saw who it was. "Ah, so you were able to make it after all." Turning back to the group, he called out, "Hey, Keitaro, why don't you come welcome our guest?"

"Alright," Keitaro said. By the time he was halfway from the couch to the door, Sean moved to the side and former ronin's jaw dropped when he recognized the latest arrival. "G-Granny Hina?"

"The one and only," Hina said, a wide grin on her face. "It's been a while, hasn't it?" Within moments of entering the dorm, she drew Keitaro into a big hug.

"I thought you were still out traveling the world," Keitaro said.

"I was," Hina said. "But you're crazy if you think I'd miss a bash like this. I would never forgive myself if I wasn't at my own grandson's wedding."

"I don't remember making an invitation for her, do you?" Naru asked Motoko.

"I made one," Sean said. "I slipped it along with the latest income statement."

Kitsune raised an eyebrow. "You still send out those things?"

"Why do you look so surprised?" Sean asked. He happened a glance at the clock and he sighed. "No point in putting it off, I suppose," he thought as he made his way to where Suu and Amy were still rapt in conversation--with Mr. Narusegawa on the sidelines, trying in vain to make sense of any of it.

"…and by increasing the intake of the flux capacitor, I was able to--" Suu's sentence was cut short when she felt someone tap on her shoulder. Turning around, she saw her manager, a serious look on his face. "What's up?" she asked.

"It's about that time," Sean said.

"Gotcha," Suu said, knowing exactly what Sean meant. She immediately skipped off to her room, though Sean stopped short of the stairs.

"Hey, Hina," he called out. "Can I see you upstairs for a minute?"

"Sure," Hina said. She had been catching up with Keitaro, but she figured she had all day for that. As they went upstairs, she took in everything around her. "This place looks better than when I left," she said. "I guess this puts a whole new meaning to the phrase 'working your magic'." She thought that was funny, but Sean saw it a different way.

"How do you know about that?" Sean asked.

"Kanako told me," Hina said. "When she came back from her first visit, she spoke about you in not-so-flattering terms."

"Why am I not surprised?" Sean muttered. "Especially after stopping her attempt at incest."

"I feared as much," Hina said. "She always did have an unusual attachment to her brother. Speaking of which, I haven't seen her in some time. Did she turn up here?"

"In a manner of speaking," Sean said. He then proceeded to recount the events of over two months prior; the kidnapping, the rescue and the retribution.

"I see…" Hina said as they reached Suu's room. "So you're bringing me here so I can see Kanako?"

"I'll do you one better," Sean said, opening the door. Once inside, they spotted the young genius standing next to a chair that looked far from innocent.

"Preparations are complete," Suu said, giving a salute.

"Good," Sean said. "Begin the extraction process."

"Roger that."

"You're bringing her back to the real world?" Hina asked. Her tone could almost be described as incredulous.

"Briefly, yes," Sean said bluntly. It was obvious he wasn't proud of what he was doing.

"After everything she's done, why are you doing this?" Hina asked.

"For some reason, Keitaro wants her to be at his wedding. You should have seen the uproar he caused when he made that request. I swear, your grandson is way too forgiving for his own good."

Any response Hina might have made to that was preempted by the once empty chair suddenly becoming occupied by the embodiment of teenage angst that was Kanako Urashima. Once she was aware of her surroundings, she sprang from her seat and leapt toward Sean with the intention of ripping him apart. She might have succeeded too, if Sean had seen it coming from a mile away and had prepared for it accordingly.

At the last possible moment, Sean cast a spell that froze Kanako in her tracks. Unable to release her pent-up rage, she let loose a string of curses that made Sean glad he had closed Suu's door.

"Enough of this," Sean said, flicking Kanako hard right between the eyes. Placing two fingers under her chin, he tilted her face up so they could see eye to eye. "Shut up and listen good, because I will not repeat myself. The only reason you're out here right now is because there will be a wedding held today and your dear brother, somehow, still thinks of you as family. I assure you, this will only be a temporary leave, after which you will be sent right back in."

"I'm going to make you regret ever interfering in my affairs," Kanako said. "As soon as I'm free of this stupid spell, I'll tear you limb from limb!"

"Is that so?" Sean asked. "You would try to kill me right in front of your grandmother?"

"If God was in this very room, He couldn't protect you from my wrath," Kanako said with as much venom as she could muster. Much to her aggravation, Sean started giggling. "What's so funny!"

"Nothing," Sean said. In truth, he found Kanako's last statement hilarious. After all, with his connections, he could easily make her eat her words, but he opted not to say words to that effect. Instead, he made a threat of his own. "I wouldn't act up if I were you," he said. "We all will keeping an eye on you. If you so much as try anything, I will immediately send you somewhere worse than Halo."

"And what might that be?" Kanako asked, attempting to call Sean's bluff.

"You don't want to know." In truth, he hadn't settled on a single destination, but he did narrow his choices down to two groups. The first one included games that were more violent--or at least more gruesome than where she had been the last two months. For what it's worth, the Resident Evil series springs to mind. The other group composed of games that were so cutsie they were almost certain to drive her insane. Imagine, being stuck in Animal Crossing for all eternity. Here and now, he was leaning more towards the second category.

"Now," Sean continued. "We can't let the rest of the wedding party see you looking like this; they're bound to ask questions I wouldn't want to answer." Indeed, the reaction to see a girl who looked like she just went through a war zone--mostly because she did--would be far from favorable. With a wave of his hand, he not only turned Kanako's battle-worn outfit into something more presentable, but also cleaned her up as well. "And just as a precaution…" He snapped his fingers and a pair of handcuffs appeared out of nowhere, which he immediately used to bind her hands behind her back.

"Alright," Sean said, turning to Suu. "In five minutes, the paralysis spell will wear off. When it does, I want you to bring her downstairs."

"What if she struggles?" Suu asked.

"I'll leave that up to you," Sean said, now heading for the door. "Be creative."

Without a word, Hina followed Sean out. The last thing she would see before closing the door would be Suu looking Kanako up and down, an evil grin on her face. It would take until the two got halfway between Suu's room and the stairs that she would break the silence. "Suu is as brilliant as ever."

"You got that right," Sean said. "Thankfully, her inventions are far less destructive than they used to be." He quickly turned the conversation to a topic he knew she would bring up sooner or later. "Are you upset about how I handled her?"

Hina slowly shook her head. "No. If anything, I'm disappointed in Kanako. I could see it in her eyes; she's too caught up in her hunger for vengeance to have learned anything. She needs to know that the world does not grant every wish that is made, no matter how badly you may want it."

"So you approve of my methods, then?" Sean asked.

"You did what needed to be done," Hina said. "Anything less probably wouldn't have stopped her for long."

"Mm hmm," Sean muttered. "Just so you know," he added. "Not everyone here knows I'm a wizard, so I would greatly appreciate it if you didn't talk about it."

---

Aside from a few angry glares (especially from Naru), Suu parading Kanako into the living room happened surprisingly smoothly. When asked about the handcuffs, Sean explained that it was due to her history of delinquent activity and, therefore, had to be confined. Of course, he wasn't about to say where she was confined.

With all of the guests present--official and otherwise--the final preparations for the blessed event went under way. Once everyone had changed into their wedding attire, they filed out into the courtyard, where the actual proceedings were to take place. Along the way, Shinobu passed around a guest book (by Sean's suggestion) for everyone to sign. When it came to the goddess' respective turns, she had to keep from laughing. She did not know what she found funnier, the fact that they used the names Stephanie Romane and Amy Knowles (A/N: For those of you who don't get it, consider the words "romance" and "knowledge".) or that they put Roswell, New Mexico as their hometown.

The ceremony itself would be a sight to behold. Before that day, the only people out of the entire wedding party to actually witness a western wedding were Sean and Stephanie, though this was hardly far-fetched. Every one of the residents had their own roles to play. Kitsune, Motoko, Shinobu and Mutsumi were all bridesmaids, while Sean was best man. Regrettably, Jimmy was not able to attend, as he had sudden and important business to attend to elsewhere. This made for a rather lopsided ceremony, though nobody was about to lose any sleep over it. Suu contributed as the ring bearer (a role she performed with much enthusiasm) and Sarah as flower girl (a role she performed with not so much enthusiasm).

For her part, Kanako behaved herself throughout. One theory for this is that she still cared for her brother deeply and did not want to disrupt his wedding day, even if she was not the bride. Then again, it's equally likely that she did not wish to provoke Sean further and receive a third dose of his sadistic brand of punishment.

Once the ceremony was complete and Keitaro and Naru officially became husband and wife, everyone went back inside for the reception, where they enjoyed the fruits of Shinobu's labors. It was during this time that yet another bombshell would be dropped…

--- 4:22 PM

"This food is wonderful!" Mrs. Urashima said.

"You got that right," Kitsune said. "You have really outdone yourself, Shinobu."

"And that's saying something," Sean added.

Shinobu did not respond verbally. Instead, she just blushed a bit and grinned with the satisfaction that she had reached a new plateau like she hoped she would. Even if she wanted to say something, there was someone else who demanded the attention of the room.

"Excuse me everyone," Hina said, standing from her seat. "I have an announcement to make." She waited for the rest of the wedding party to end their respective conversations before she continued. "Keitaro, I know this must be inadequate, but I must apologize to you."

"Apologize?" Keitaro asked. "For what?"

"For not being here for you all this time," Hina said. "There's no telling what you must have gone through early on."

"I don't think he's the one you should have been worried about," Sean thought.

"I was too wrapped up in my own affairs, I had forgotten about the welfare of my own grandson," Hina continued. "I only hope you can forgive me."

"Of all the people to ask for forgiveness…" Naru thought.

"You don't need to apologize to me," Keitaro said. "Everyone is entitled to live their own lives as they see fit." He switched his gaze from his grandmother to his new wife. "Besides, if I could have relived the last three years, I would not have changed a thing."

"Oh, honey…" Naru said before leaning in for a quick kiss.

"Still, I can't help but feel somewhat responsible," Hina said. "Therefore, I want to give you this." She reached into her pocket, pulled out a folded up piece of paper and handed it to Keitaro.

"What is it?" Keitaro asked.

"Think of it as a wedding present," Hina simply said.

Slowly, carefully, Keitaro unfolded the paper and his eyes grew wide as he read it. Once he was done, he turned his head toward Hina, to the paper and back again. "This is…"

"That's right," Hina said. "The deed to Hinata-Sou. You have no idea how long I have wanted to give you that."

"Wow," Keitaro said, though he was partially drowned out by the murmurings going on around the room. "I mean--wow. I never would have expected something like this. I… I can't accept this."

"What do you mean?" Hina asked, flabbergasted by her grandson's last statement.

"I'm not saying I'm ungrateful," Keitaro said in his own defense. "I just think there's someone else who deserves this more than I do." He turned to the other person sitting next to him. "Sean, I want you to have it."

"Me?" Sean asked; he definitely did not see this little development coming. "Why me?"

"For as long as I've known you, you have kept this place running like a well-oiled machine," Keitaro said. "I know in my heart that you would make a better owner than I ever would."

"I guess that makes sense," Sean said, though his reluctance was plain to see. He looked at Hina and silently asked for her input.

"It is his to do as he sees fit," she said. "I have faith in his judgment."

"Are you absolutely sure about this?" Sean said, turning back to Keitaro. "This is a big decision, after all."

Keitaro nodded. "I'm sure."

"If you say so," Sean said. "We can hammer out all the details later." Looking around, he saw that everyone in the room was staring at them in complete silence. "What are you all gawking at?" he asked. "Eat up! This is supposed to be a day of celebration, remember?"

Having been broken from their reverie, everyone resumed chatting amongst themselves, with one extra topic of discussion. Once all had had their fill, they moved to the living room where they danced and sang karaoke with Sean as the DJ (mostly as an excuse to not be on the dance floor). Hours would go by in a blur and all too soon, the guests had to head back to their own homes, though promises were made to visit more often in the future.

The party would continue for a little while longer, though one by one, each of the tenants went off to bed. It seemed appropriate that the last of them to go were the husband and bride.

--- Sunday, 8/27 12:01 AM

"Today was wonderful," Naru said after what would be hers and Keitaro's last slow dance of the night.

"Only the best for my friends," Sean said.

"Thanks again for letting Kanako out, even for just a little while," Keitaro said. "I really appreciate it."

"Yeah, well, I'm just glad she had enough sense not to make a scene," Sean said. "Well, I guess it's about time you got some shut eye, huh?"

"Well, we may be going to bed," Naru said, grinning. "But who knows how long it might be until we actually fall asleep."

"Is that so?" Sean asked, somewhat taken aback. To say that the newly married couple wasn't open about their level of intimacy would have been an understatement. "Well, remember that, if you ever feel like your ready, just let me know and I'll remove the spell--if you know what I'm talking about."

"Yeah, we do," Keitaro said, both he and Naru blushing a bit. Nodding in acknowledgement, they went upstairs without another word.

At a date and time long since forgotten, Keitaro and Naru approached Sean in secret. Apparently, the two had been talking to each other about taking their relationship to the next level and had finally decided to do just that. Naturally, this brought with it a few concerns, not the least of which being the risk of conception. Neither of them felt they were ready to have children so early in their adult lives and especially out of wedlock, but they also felt that buying condoms would be somewhat embarrassing. After all, the last thing they wanted to do was announce to the whole world (or worse yet, Kitsune) what they were doing.

Right away, Sean agreed to the request he knew was coming and set about fashioning some form of magical birth control. After a few early theories that got scrapped because they were either impractical or irreversible, an idea popped up that seemed like the perfect solution, which, upon proposing it to the couple, was agreed to wholeheartedly. What he did was place an enchantment on Naru's ovaries so that the eggs they produced had an extraordinarily tough shell so that no sperm could work they way inside. Since then, Sean has no clue as to how many times they have put his spell to the test--not that he ever wanted to find out.

Some time later, in an event independent of itself, Motoko came calling with a similar request.

"Well, there goes the happy couple," Sean said after they left the room. He followed this up with a yawn, signifying that he should be off to bed as well. Before he got to the stairs however, a pair of arms wrapped around him from behind.

"That was really a beautiful wedding," Stephanie whispered into his ear. "I'm glad I was here for it."

"I thought you had already gone," Sean said.

"I did," Stephanie said. "But I came back to get you. It is technically Sunday, you know?"

"Maybe later," Sean said. "I'm too tired for that right now." He reinforced that statement with another yawn. "Besides, what about Shinobu?"

"What about her?" That comment was not as insensitive as it might have seemed. It was common knowledge that if one of the wizards accompanied them on that particular day of the week, they both did--no exceptions.

"She has to be sound asleep by now," Sean said. "I'm not about to wake her up."

"Whoever said you have to?" Stephanie asked. "You could sleep in my bed tonight if you wanted." Then, much to Sean's surprise, her tone turned serious. "Listen, remember what I told you about the… shall we say… errand Linda had to run today?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it appears to have taken a lot more out of her emotionally than we had originally thought. Apparently, the poor sap had quite a bit of potential in him. Anyway, I figured that if you were to go to her, it would do her a world of good. What do you say, will you do it?"

A small grin appeared on Sean's face. "I think I can stay awake a while longer."

Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you so much," she said, kissing Sean on the cheek. "You have know idea of the significance of your actions." With that, the goddess of love faded back into the nothingness from which she came.

"Somehow," Sean thought. "I think I do."

End of Chapter LXIV 

Please R&R! 


	68. Ch65: A Day in the Life

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH.

And now for something completely different. This will be my first attempt of a chapter done completely in the first person. Also, at least for this chapter, I will be implementing a new system for discerning which gender I am at any given time.

Chapter LXV: A Day in the Life

In this world of ours, most people can be classified into two distinct groups. Those in group A tend to sit on the sidelines and let life pass them by. While this group does include users and abusers of such drugs as cocaine or marijuana, just to name two, there are also those who believe that their lives are inconsequential; that nothing they do will ever matter. Of course, as long as they think this way, they are often proved right.

On the other hand, Group B grabs life by the horns and refuses to let go. Whenever they want something, they are willing to go to great lengths and face many risks to get it. They hold a great entrepreneurial spirit within, and are responsible for most of the modern advances we tend to take for granted.

My name is Mitsune "Kitsune" Konno, a proud member of Group B, and this is my life.

--- Thursday, 11/4 7:15 AM

No matter where you are in the world, the sun poking up over the eastern horizon always means the start of a new day. One might say it's like clockwork. The whole process is perfectly ordinary. For the record, I hate ordinary. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but a ho-hum existence just gets under my skin. Maybe that's why I never feel like leaving Hinata-Sou, even though I could get a place where I wouldn't have to pay rent. After all, there is usually something interesting going on in any given day, and if there isn't, I can easily change that. This day would be no different.

Slowly but surely, the early morning sunlight crept into my room and made its way through my eyelids, acting as a makeshift alarm clock. Even though I was somewhat awake and equally somewhat aware of the time, I felt no earthly desire to get out of bed just yet--we've all been there, I'm sure.

While the sun would fail to get me up and around, the knock at my door soon after would not. "Yeah?" I called out, still having not moved a muscle.

"Breakfast is ready."

"Alright." As soon as I recognized Shinobu's cheerful voice, any trace of drowsiness I had left was gone in an instant. I swear, if there was ever a perfect reason to get out of bed in the morning, that would be it. Some people might see that as odd, but those people have never tried Shinobu's cooking.

Without any further hesitation, I got out of bed and got dressed. I think it's safe to say that I'm more of a morning person now than I have been in years, something I attribute to me taking control over my drinking habits. Granted, I still have some sake every now and again, but nowhere near as much as I used to. Believe me, after experiencing a life without all those hangovers, I don't want to go back.

After making myself more presentable, I headed for the dining room, where everyone else had already gathered for breakfast… well, almost everyone. A couple weeks after their wedding, Keitaro and Naru left for their honeymoon, from which they have yet to return. The only person who knows exactly where they are is Sean. Despite my efforts, I wasn't able to glean the information from him.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?" Shinobu asked. I guess I must have looked a bit out of sorts or something.

"You met me halfway," I answered as I took my usual seat at the table. Glancing around, I can't help but think of how everyone has changed over the years. Aside from maybe Shinobu, I would say that Suu has changed the most. When I first met the foreigner, "wild child" did not do her justice--the back pains I've had to suffer are testament to that. It took a while, but she eventually mellowed as she matured. The most glaring example of this is her eating habits. Granted, her portions are still as big as they ever were, but she no longer devours her food like a ravenous beast. Then again, at times like this, adolescence is only half the story.

"So, had you decided on something yet?" Sean (♂) asked out of the blue.

And that would be the other half. Last night, Suu announced that she had been assigned a science project at school. Naturally, this was a red flag to everyone in the room.

"Why?" Suu asked back. "Were you planning on helping me?"

"Somehow, I don't think that's allowed," Sean said. "I just wanted to watch genius at work." If I didn't know better, I would have thought I just saw Suu blush at that comment. "Plus, it might give me inspiration." As if he needed any more of that.

"I haven't settled on any one thing yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I do," Suu said.

As breakfast wore on, everyone engaged in various bits of small talk, if only to keep the morning meal from being an utterly silent one. Afterwards, we all went to what is easily one of my favorite places: the hot spring. While in those waters, all of your worries just seem to melt away. Naturally, everyone else who lives here enjoys its relaxing powers as well.

I sink into my own little world so quickly, so deeply, I almost didn't notice the door to the changing room open and Shinobu and Sean (♀) come out--only the dirty dishes kept them from showing up sooner.

With an arm around the other's waist, the couple made their way to the far end of the spring. Even through the ever-present mist, I could easily see them start making out. This is by no means the first time this has taken place; in fact, the only thing stopping them from continuing it elsewhere would be the coming school day.

Between those two, there is absolutely no concept of the term "quickie." When they make love, they are in it for the long haul. From what I can gather, they usually don't stop until at least one of them either falls asleep or passes out. In all honesty, I don't know which is worse: the fact that, of all people, Shinobu has a better sex life than I do, or that I'm actually jealous of it.

When I take my eyes away from the scene before me (mostly to keep my mind off that particular subject), I notice that Motoko and Suu are both taking it all in stride. On the other hand, Mutsumi seemed almost compelled to watch, all the while fidgeting and otherwise showing signs of discomfort.

This is just the most recent clue that something is seriously wrong with the ditzy girl. From the day she first moved in, she has shown herself to be a very casual young woman with few concerns. She is also someone who is very comfortable in her own skin; the occasions where she had "forgotten" to wear more than a towel (sometimes less) after bathing is proof enough of that. Lately though, she has become more modest. It has even come to the point where she covers up while in the hot spring. Even now, she appears a tad too protective of that towel wrapped around her.

Despite all that, which might have been enough of a cause for concern on its own, there is one more thing that needs to be brought up. While at first glance, her cheerful demeanor seems unchanged, her smile appears more and more artificial over the last few months. So far, the subject has not been brought up in conversation. The way I see it, either I'm the only one who has taken note of this development or the others are simply waiting for Mutsumi to say something first.

Eventually, everyone--some more reluctantly than others--got out, dried off and prepared themselves for school. For me, watching them all head out brings about images of a similar scene with a mother and her children. You have no idea just how old that makes me feel.

Normally, I have my job writing articles for the newspaper to keep me occupied during school hours; a period of time that has bored me to tears more than once. However, roughly once or twice a month, my list of assignments is empty, forcing me to find some other diversion. Naturally, I wouldn't be saying this if today wasn't one of those days.

Some time ago, on another such free day, I was channel surfing when I came across one of those American soap operas. (How Sean managed to get American channels at all is anybody's guess.) For the heck of it, I started watching it; I've been a fan of them ever since.

At some point during "The Young and the Restless," Sean (♀) passed by, broom in hand in what I assume to be one of the later stages of his cleaning routine. He was humming along to some song playing in his earphones--one I didn't immediately recognize--and wore an ordinary t-shirt and sweatpants like he always does, regardless of which gender he assumes.

As Sean went along his merry way, something caught my eye; something that sparked an idea in my head. Once he had his back turned, I got off the couch, snuck up behind him and, without warning, fondled his breasts. I tell you, the sound he made was priceless; any attempt to describe it would not do it justice.

"I see you're not wearing a bra," I say, confirming something I had already figured out. I briefly considered reaching down to check for panties, but before I got the chance, he reached around and felt me up right back.

"And neither are you," Sean said, pointing out my own hypocrisy, though I would never acknowledge it. Having satisfied my appetite for mischief (at least for now), I released my grasp. As I did so, he turned around and whispered into my ear, "Besides, you should see what I wear when you're not here."

Having successfully implanted that burning question into my mind, he continued on, singing along to his music. This time, I did recognize the song; it was one about a woman who habitually bet on horse races. (A/N: For those who absolutely have to know, it's "Another Horsedreamer's Blues" by Counting Brows.)

Regardless of whether it was a coincidence or not, I felt the need to make him stop. "So, you gonna play video games today?" I ask.

"Nah," Sean said. "I think I'll continue my space project."

"You're still working on that?" Sean's been trying to unravel the mystery of space travel for at least a year now. Frankly, I don't see what's so complicated about it, but what do I know?

"I'm close to a breakthrough, I'm sure of it," Sean said. I can only imagine how many times he's told himself that.

As Sean proceeded to bend the laws of physics once again, I went back to watching television. From there, time seemed almost to go by in a blur. Before I knew it, the resident students started coming home. First to arrive, as usual, was Mutsumi, who had surprisingly little to say when she did.

The three high school students--Shinobu, Suu and Motoko--all showed at the same time. It kinda makes sense if you think about it. "Hey guys. Welcome home."

Motoko replied with a simple nod, while Suu seemed to have her head in the clouds, but it was Shinobu who got my attention. Only stopping long enough to remove her shoes, she skipped off towards the stairs, giggling all the while. The grin on her face was unmistakable; it can only mean one thing, and its part of a short list of things that can tear Sean away from his work. In turn, that leads to one inevitable conclusion…

"Where are you going?" Motoko asked.

"To get something to eat," I answer. "After all, dinner's going to be postponed."

Call it woman's intuition, call it a keen, observing eye, but I would soon be proven right. Even though, the evening meal would be delayed by about an hour, it was well worth the wait, as is usually the case when it comes to Shinobu's cooking.

Dinner came and went in the usual fashion; with everyone telling the events of the day. While I am certainly not exempt from this, there are obviously those things I'd rather not share. The only one not present was Sean, presumably for reasons I have already mentioned.

When everyone had eaten their fill, we all went to our respective rooms for the evening, but if you think this means the day's over, you're sadly mistaken. On the contrary, some of the most interesting things wait until after nightfall.

Once Shinobu officially came of age, both figuratively and literally, I backed off and let her love Sean both in mind and in body like I promised I would way back when. You may ask why I have kept my end of the deal all this time, but the answer in simple: I may be devious, I may be sneaky, I may even be a con artist at times, but I never skimp on my agreements, especially ones involving so much.

Having resigned to fending for myself from that point on, I decided to check out the dating scene. While most of the guys I flirted with seemed interested, it was only in one thing--and it wasn't my personality. While I may be a maturing woman with certain needs, I am looking for a boyfriend first and a lover second. In all my life, I have pursued a wholly physical relationship with only one man--and he's probably the only guy I could do that with and not feel like a whore.

While I was certainly willing for a relationship to eventually turn sexual, I wasn't about to give it up on the first date. However, it soon became apparent that none of the guys I was meeting had that kind of patience, so whenever I had an itch to scratch I found myself practicing self-love.

Don't get me wrong, I am not saying masturbation is a bad thing, it's just that once I got a taste of the good life with Sean, it just isn't the same. You might say, I have grown to prefer duets over solos--and I know damn well I'm not the only one.

Every so often (usually when I'm in a certain mood) I think about asking Sean for one "last" romp in the sheets as a personal favor, if not for old times' sake. Most of the time, thoughts are all they are--and brief ones at that. This is mostly because of what Shinobu might do to me when she finds out about it. This night however, I must have felt really gutsy, even for me, since I decided to go forward with that very idea, consequences be damned.

I guess it was some time around 10:30 when I left my room and casually made my way down the hall to Sean's. Once there, I lightly knocked on the door; no sense in waking up the rest of the dorm, right? A few moments went by and I was about to knock again when the door opened, revealing a tired Shinobu.

"Yeah?" I couldn't tell whether I had woken her up or simply kept her from falling asleep. Either way, I'm glad she's a naturally polite person or else she would probably be telling me off right about now.

"Could I have a word with Sean?" I ask.

"He's up on the roof," she answered.

"Alright," I say. "Sorry for disturbing you." Shinobu muttered something before closing the door, but it was so low I couldn't tell what it was.

As I made my way to the roof platform, I couldn't help but wonder what he could be doing. When I actually got up there, any guesses I had made were shot to pieces--as were my plans for the night.

While Sean is by no means a short man, he was easily dwarfed by what he was working on, a semi-transparent sphere that was easily 3 meters across. Inside of it was some pale, swirling substance that I could never hope to identify.

"Wow." Apparently, I had said that out loud, as he turned his head in my direction.

"Hey, Kitsune," he said. "What brings you up here at this time of night?"

"I was going to ask you that," I say. "What in the world is that?"

"This," he said, motioning to the large orb next to him, "is what I hope to be the final version of the space capsule I've been working on."

"Took you long enough," I say without thinking.

"Don't knock it 'till you tried it," he said. "The number of barriers and force fields in this thing is insane. Inside is an assortment of sensors constantly keeping track of barometric pressure, air content, temperature, various radiation levels and a couple other things you wouldn't understand even if I took the time to explain them to you."

Sean took a breath after that longwinded description, but that didn't mean he was done. "The way I see it, if I can get this capsule to the moon and back without anything going red line, I will deem it as fit for human transport."

"And how long would that take?" I ask with one last ray of hope.

"I'm not sure," Sean said. "It should be at least a couple hours." He looked up toward the moon. "Makes me glad I had that nap this afternoon." Despite myself, I rolled my eyes at that comment.

Considering how rare it is that I am able to observe one of Sean's experiments firsthand, I decide to stick around and watch. Taking a seat next to his creation, he took a long blink, after which his eyes started glowing the same color as the inside of the capsule. Apparently, there's a camera somewhere in all that mess. The view he'll be seeing pretty soon should be something else.

I am so mesmerized by the sight before me that I'm caught completely off guard when the sphere vanishes into thin air. "Where did it go?" I ask.

"Nowhere yet," Sean said. "Consider this: What do you think would happen if, by some chance, somebody happened to be looking through their telescope and catch sight of it?"

"The scientific community would be in an uproar," I respond, having put all the pieces together. "Therefore, you turn is invisible to eliminate that risk."

"Exactly, but there's more to it than that," Sean explained. "To make sure I had all my bases covered, I have rendered it imperceptible throughout the entire light spectrum. You have no idea how long it took me to figure that one out. In theory, only people with ki sense like Motoko and Jimmy would even know it's there."

"On that note, I'm surprised Motoko hasn't come up here to investigate what you're doing," I say.

"Don't be," Sean said. "I already informed her of my activities. Besides, even she wouldn't be able to track my capsule after I sent it into space."

"So, if this works, what's next for the great wizard?"

"Training," Sean simply said. "It'll take a lot of it if I plan to hit light speed any time soon."

I wonder if he will ever run out of experiments. Somehow, I doubt it. "Light speed, huh? Well, good luck with that. So, when's liftoff?"

"About thirty seconds ago," Sean said.

"Oh. I'll leave you to it, then." I could have easily waited until Sean was done and proposed my idea then, but I decided against it. No amount of sex is worth going through that much boredom.

And so, I headed back to my room with the intention of getting to sleep before my hormones started making demands. I barely got two steps past the doorway when the most unearthly wailing you ever heard came from above my head. I knew the layout of the dorm well enough to know the only possible source of the noise: the inner sanctum of one Mutsumi Otohime.

It would be right around that time that I became officially fed up. If nobody else was going to help her get through whatever personal problem she's got, then it would be up to me to do it, whether she wanted the help or not.

I wasted no time in getting to the banshee's room, but when I opened the door, all thoughts of shock therapy went right out the window. There she was, laying naked on her futon, one hand between her legs (which were facing away from me, so I couldn't see much else) and the other was squeezing one of her large breasts. All in all, she was masturbating like the world was going to end. Also, from the way she was crying out, I could tell she wasn't entirely enjoying it. In fact, it sounded more like she was in pain.

For one reason or another, I could only stand there and watch. From all the noise she was making, I was glad that Naru was still on her honeymoon or else she would have thrown a fit by now. I can only hope nobody else could hear it, especially with me holding the door open.

After Mutsumi eventually reached her peak--one accompanied by a primal grunt that made me cringe--she fell still, her labored breathing the only thing breaking the sudden silence.

Driven more by curiosity than anything else, I stepped into the room to get a closer look at what I'm up against. Even when I knelt down right next to her, Mutsumi seemed oblivious to my presence, her eyes closed and her mind no doubt occupied by whatever dark thoughts she may be harboring.

I would not have to examine her for long to figure out why she had become so modest lately, but it did little to ease the shock of what I saw. Mutsumi's nether regions were a deep red and swollen, while there were hand-shaped marks on both of her breasts. I might have asked her who had abused her so harshly, but I had a sinking feeling I just witnessed the answer.

After a couple minutes, Mutsumi became regained her senses. The moment she saw me hovering over her, she freaked and turned her back to me. "D-Don't look at me," she half-sobbed.

"It's a bit late for that," I muttered. "What I want to know is why are you doing this to yourself?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Mutsumi said.

"Look," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder, making her flinch. It's not often that you see someone with such frayed nerves. "I want to help you, but I can't do that unless you tell me what's going on."

"I don't want to bother you with my problems," Mutsumi said.

For the second time in so many minutes, I had had just about enough. I spun her around and gave her a good slap in the face. "Damn it, I am not going to be a part of your stupid pity party. Now, either you're going to tell me what the hell is wrong with you or tomorrow morning, I'll tell everyone what I saw you doing. Trust me, we will not drop the subject until you talk."

For a while, Mutsumi looked like a deer in headlights, but then relented and told her tale, which sounded eerily similar to my own dating issues. The main difference was that she has had to deal with it for over twice as long.

That's when it hit me. If things stayed the way they were, I could very well be looking at my own future. Something had to be done, both to end Mutsumi's misery and prevent my own.

Considering my sharp mind, it did not take long for a possible solution to come to the surface--and I wasted no time in sharing it. I explained that a major part of our mutual problem was that we more or less forced ourselves into solitary confinement at night--something that could easily be rectified by the two of us keeping each other company, which can also come in handy when one of us is feeling horny.

Despite the nature of my past relations with Sean, I don't see myself as a lesbian and I can only assume that Mutsumi would say the same, but she agreed to my proposal whole-heartedly and without hesitation. This probably has something to do with how desperate her situation had become. That night, both of us would have the best night's sleep in recent memory. I had considered making a move or two, but I figured it would do more harm than good. Besides, after what Mutsumi's been through, my own needs can wait… at least for now.

End of Chaper LXV

I admit, this is not my best work, but I'm sure there's worse stuff out there. Please R&R!


	69. Ch66: The Mouse Will Play

Disclaimer: I own no part of LH, but Sean and Jimmy are mine.

Chapter LXVI: The Mouse Will Play

Benjamin Franklin once said, "The only sure things in life are death and taxes." While we can do little more than delay the former, we all must appease our respective national and/or regional governments with the latter until then. This means that, throughout our adult lives, we require jobs as a means to support ourselves.

There are some people lucky enough to truly enjoy their work. Such people include Playboy photographers, Nintendo Power game counselors and, in some cases, the landlord of a girls' dormitory. For the rest of us, that leaves menial, tedious and usually boring jobs in office buildings, various kinds of restaurants and so forth, but they are roles that need to be filled for the world to function.

Another aspect of one's chosen career path is the sheer legality of it. Some occupations are cut and dry in this regard, like prostitution and dealing in drugs. However, there are those professions where the line is not so finely drawn. In cases such as these, it's all up to the perception of the general public to determine if it is right or not.

--- Monday, 2/28/2011 12:55 PM

"I can't believe this is actually happening," Kitsune thought as he walked the streets of Tokyo. She wore a semi-casual outfit, her purse slung over one shoulder. By all appearances, she was on her way to a date, but this was not the case. Instead, she was looking to further her journalism career.

Two days before, by random chance, she happened to meet one of the more prevalent NFL players of the day. Taking a shot in the dark, she requested an interview with him. Against all odds, he accepted and a time and place was quickly set. Even now, she couldn't believe her luck.

By the time she neared the coffee house in question, she had gone over a list of possible questions countless times, but that line of thought briefly vanished when she caught sight of her subject. (A/N: I will not be referring to this athlete by name, as there's no telling if the person I name would even have a career at this time.)

"Ah, Miss Konno," he said, standing up from his seat and shaking Kitsune's hand once it came within reach. "You're right on time."

"I was surprised you agreed to do this," Kitsune said, sitting down across the table. "After all, I would have figured this to be the last thing you wanted to do while on vacation."

"I don't mind at all," he said. "Besides, I'd take a one-on-one interview over a press conference any day--especially one with such a beautiful woman."

"Flattery will get you anywhere," Kitsune said. With that, they sat down, ordered their respective drinks and the interview got under way.

By her own admission, many of the questions Kitsune were asking seemed a bit clichéd, but given such short notice, she could do little better. Despite that, the fact that the athlete across the table showed no sign of irritation encouraged her. One question in particular referenced to the team he played on, which was barely a month removed from winning the Lambardi Trophy. "What do you think it will take for the Texans to win another championship?" (A/N: Wouldn't it be really weird if this--or anything else in my story for that matter--came to pass? And no, the Texans are not my favorite team. If I wanted to go that route, I would have said the Raiders instead.)

As the jock proceeded to give the typical answer--work hard, don't make costly mistakes and so on--Kitsune caught something in the corner of her eye. Entering the coffee house was none other than one Jimmy Lynch. With purpose in his step, he made his way to the table in the far corner.

Already seated at that table was a woman who was definitely not Motoko. She wore a business suit and had her red hair was styled just as formally. For his part, Jimmy wore a business-casual outfit not dissimilar to what Kitsune herself wore. The two immediately began conversing with one another.

"What the hell…?" Kitsune thought, a myriad of questions spawning from that one scene, but she quickly brought her attention back to the matter at hand before she was found out--the worst thing you can do during an interview is to be caught with your head in the clouds.

In all, the interview lasted the better part of an hour. Ever since her possibly incriminating observation though, Kitsune had different questions running through her mind. Who was Jimmy talking to? What were they talking about? Why were they doing it in the first place? Did Motoko know about this?

While it would have been easy enough to make accusations at the first opportunity, she has seen too many instances where people (those of which shall remain nameless) overreact over trivial and inconsequential events. No, she would wait until she knew what she was dealing with before deciding to act.

During all of this, Kitsune was glad she thought of bringing a tape recorder to the interview. After all, being as mired in her thoughts as she was caused her to miss a good portion of what the athlete across from her was saying.

When the interview eventually drew to a close, the two shook hands once again and went their separate ways. At some point during the train ride home, Kitsune found herself contemplating her tape recorder. Her fellow passengers might have thought it a tad odd, staring at something as though it held all the answers, but in this circumstance, that may actually be the case.

The chat Jimmy had with the mystery woman was held in low voices that prevented her from listening in. Also, for obvious reasons, she was unable to concentrate enough to lip read. All of this meant she had almost no clue as to what was going on; something that can easily frustrate her, but that's where the tape player came into play. While her ears were unable to pick up anything, there was a slim chance that the microphone on the recorder did.

This, in turn, brought up another in an already long list of questions in the fox's mind. Provided that the information was actually there to be had, how was she supposed to extract it? She wasn't about to risk both upsetting her dormmates and blowing out her eardrums by turning it up really loud. That's when it hit her; there was, perhaps, one person who had the means to help her--all she had to do was ask.

Before all that however, there was more important business to take care of. As soon as she returned to Hinata-Sou, she went straight to her room to prepare the article she would send it out not only to the Japan Times, but also American publications such as the New York Times and Los Angeles Times in an attempt to get her name out there.

Once all that was taken care of, after a brief break, Kitsune grabbed the tape recorder and headed up to the third floor. More specifically, she was going to the inner sanctum of one Kaolla Suu. School had already let out for the day, so the only concerns remaining were the gaijin's willingness and/or ability to help. Kitsune was well aware that this was not a sure thing, but that wasn't going to stop her from asking.

Without a moment's hesitation, Kitsune knocked on the door. She thought this alone was pretty brave, since Suu's room has been designated more or less off-limits. After all, there's no telling what sort of experiment you might be interrupting--or become a part of.

"Yeah?" Suu asked from within. Her voice sounded somewhat distant, which didn't make Kitsune feel any better.

"Could you help me with something real quick?" Kitsune asked.

"Sure, come on in!"

"Does she really expect me to just walk right in?" Kitsune thought incredulously. Then, a smirk appeared on her face. "Heh. Might as well; I've gone this far."

Before she could change her mind, Kitsune opened the door. She had barely crossed the threshold before shock brought her to a halt. This was completely understandable, since a black sports car was the last thing she expected to see. Next to the car was Suu, who looked more like a mechanic than anything else right then. The term "grease monkey" seemed all too appropriate. "She must have been underneath it when I knocked," Kitsune thought, remembering her muffled tone from earlier.

"What can I help you with?" Suu said, bringing Kitsune back down to earth. "And please close the door."

"Oh, sure," Kitsune quickly said, doing as she was told before getting to the reason why she was there. "There may be something in the background of this tape. I was wondering if you could enhance it or something."

"Sure, no problem," Suu said. "Just let me get cleaned up first. It'll just take a minute." She went over to what would have been the closet had this been a normal room. She opened the door, but stopped short of going through. "Oh, and one more thing," she said, turning back to her visitor. "For your own safety, don't touch anything while I'm gone."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Kitsune muttered after Suu took her leave. Considering this might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, she took the time to scan her surroundings--once you got past the car, there was indeed a lot to see. Various monitors and consoles lined the walls on both sides. As if that wasn't enough, a metal platform was installed halfway up the wall, which made room for even more electronic paraphernalia. The purpose and function of such an impressive display of technology could only be speculated by those on the outside.

Kitsune was so awed by it all, she was caught completely off guard when Suu returned. "Alright, let's get down to business!" Suu announced upon her arrival, now wearing a white lab coat. "Surprised?" she asked, noting her elder's expression. "Not what you expected, is it?"

"Not really," Kitsune said. "I would have thought it would have some mad scientist décor or something."

"It used to," Suu admitted. "I guess I just grew out of it. Maybe it was a phase I was going through. Alright, now where were we? Ah, yes…" She walked across the room, towards a clipboard hanging next to the door. On it was a list written in a language Kitsune didn't recognize. "Let's see…" Suu muttered to herself as she scanned the list for a few moments. "Here we go: Audio Transector, 4C."

No matter how many times she sees it, Kitsune has always been amazed by Suu's feats of acrobatics. This time would be no different, as the young inventor grabbed onto the platform from below and vaulted herself up and over the railing. Fortunately, there was a ladder nearby, so Kitsune could follow without risking serious injury. By the time she reached console 4C and pulled up a chair from neighboring 3C, Suu was already booting up the system.

"The cassette?" Su asked. Promptly, Kitsune handed over the tape, which was quickly inserted into a slot in the machine; one of a half dozen, covering a wide range of media storage devices. The design of this sector came as a result of a brief pastime Suu had of taking apart her favorite music piece by piece. "It'll take just a minute."

As the computer analyzed the tape, Kitsune found herself wanting to spark up a conversation to help pass the time. Besides, something has been bugging her from the moment she entered Suu's room. "What's with the car?" she asked.

"I finally started customizing my dream car," Suu answered. "I can hardly wait to get it out on the road."

"Do I want to know what kind of stuff you installed on it?" Kitsune asked.

There was a slight pause before Suu responded. "I doubt it."

"I figured as much," Kitsune said. "How are you going to get it out of your room?"

There was a blank look on Suu's face. "The same way I got it in, of course."

"Ask a silly question…" Kitsune thought, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, it's done," Suu said, getting back to the matter at hand. "Now, what exactly are you looking for?"

"Jimmy," Kitsune blurted out, cursing herself immediately thereafter.

"Jimmy?" Suu asked, a confused look on her face.

"No sense in holding anything back now," Kitsune thought. Given the circumstances, withholding information would only hinder her efforts. "When I was out doing my interview," she explained. "I saw Jimmy talking with some woman. I want to see if that tape picked up their conversation."

"Shouldn't Motoko be here for this?" Suu asked. "This sounds like something she should know about."

"Only if my suspicions are confirmed," Kitsune said. "I don't want to bother her if this turns out to be nothing."

"I see what you mean," Suu said. "She certainly wouldn't want such gossip going around, especially if it wasn't true. Alright, where on the tape did their talk begin?"

"About fifteen minutes in," Kitsune said. She made it a point to remember that bit of information.

Suu went a little ways past where Kitsune said and began sorting out each individual wavelength and comparing them to a sample of Jimmy's voice already on file--something Kitsune didn't bother asking about. Even with such technology at their disposal, their task would not an easy one, as they were quick to find out.

"…No match," Suu said, disappointedly.

"That makes a dozen so far," Kitsune muttered. "I'm beginning to wonder if this is nothing but a wild goose chase." From the start of this whole endeavor, she was openly aware of this possibility. At the same time, there was no telling how long it would keep nagging at her should it come to pass.

"There's still some I haven't tried yet," Suu said. "But they may be so weak, I may not be able to get a clean match."

"We've gone this far," Kitsune said. "Might as well keep trying, if only for the sake of completeness."

"I hear that," Suu said, hardly one to give up. "Analyzing the next sample…" Suu's hands flew across the keyboard, performing actions Kitsune could barely follow, even after watching it so many times already. "And… it's a match!"

"Really?" Kitsune asked. "Are you sure?"

"There's no doubt about it," Suu said. "Alright, now we're getting somewhere. By observing the tempo, I should be able to pick out the other half of the conversation." It took a little bit of searching, but she was able to do just that. After enhancing the audio, this was what they heard:

Woman: You're late.

Jimmy: Sorry; traffic was a mess. We could easily have done this over the phone.

Woman: I prefer to do business in person. Do you have a problem with that?

Jimmy: I'm here, aren't I?

Woman: Indeed you are. Let's get started, shall we?

Jimmy: Before we do, I want you to understand what will be taking place here. If you have any second thoughts, say so now, because you will not be able to back out once I begin.

Woman: I understand completely. Now, at what time do you want to do this?

Jimmy: Given that the place is open during regular business hours, I was thinking about going around midnight. Is that alright with you?

Woman: Actually, I would prefer to do it at 11:00, just to be safe. This is not meant as an insult to your… abilities.

Jimmy: None taken.

Woman: Regardless, I want to be absolutely sure you have enough time to go in, do what you have to and get back out.

Jimmy: Sounds fair. 11:00 it is, then.

From there, the two went about hashing out the details, but by that time, Suu and Kitsune had gotten all the information they needed. "Wow," Suu said. "If it was anybody else, I might have thought something like this would be pretty cool."

"Yeah, no kidding," Kitsune muttered. What had begun as suspicion of adultery just became something much more serious--either that, or there was a serious case of innuendo going on. Either way, there was a certain swordswoman who needed to be informed. "Suu, will you go get Motoko?"

"Why me?" Suu asked, somewhat confused by the fox's request. "You're the one who first discovered this whole thing."

"Yeah, but who is she more likely to believe, you or me?" Kitsune asked. She was all too aware that, no matter how a person may change, their reputation may still remain the same--and hers wasn't exactly the kind that people would put their trust in right away.

"I see what you mean," Suu said, getting up from the chair. "I'll be right back."

After Suu left, Kitsune just sat there in complete silence. From her crossed arms and the intense look on her face, you could tell the gears were already turning in her head…

--- 10:30 PM

Those who happened to be out and about that night would have seen Jimmy ride by on his motorcycle, en route to the Tokyo business district. Most would not have thought anything of it, but there were those who knew what he was up to and had made it a point to keep track of his movements. Despite the skills he possesses, Jimmy was completely unaware that he was being actively monitored--and there was only one way that was possible.

"How did I get talked into this?" Sean muttered to himself from roughly 300 miles away--straight up.

"Stop complaining," Kitsune's voice said through the headset he wore. She, along with Suu and Motoko were stationed in the inventor's room, where they received the images from Sean's telescopic vision. "I know you're upset about us interrupting your little exploration, but this demanded immediate attention. Besides, the moon won't be going anywhere any time soon."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Sean said. "Just be glad I've been coming up here, or else Jimmy might have suspected something." Considering the magical output required to conjure up the space capsule and escape Earth's atmosphere, it was practically a given that Jimmy was well aware of the 37 launches performed to date.

"Just don't lose sight of him," Kitsune said. "I don't want to waste this chance to catch him in the act."

"I certainly hope you are wrong about this," Motoko said.

"You heard the tape," Kitsune said. "What else could he be planning?"

"I just find it hard to believe that he would commit such acts," Motoko reasoned.

"He's done it before," Kitsune countered. "Right in this very building, in fact."

"Don't remind me," Sean muttered.

"I share his sentiment," Motoko said. Indeed, being turned into a cat and the events that spawned from it were not easily forgotten, though that did not stop Motoko from trying. "In any case, this is a different situation."

"Different how?" Kitsune asked.

"Jimmy is being hired to go to a business and commit theft--something I could never condone."

"So, you saying it's alright as long as the business isn't the Hinata-Sou Girls Dormitory?" Kitsune asked.

"I did not mean it like that; I--"

"Then what do you mean?"

It was then that Sean cut in. "As much as I would love to hear you two argue, we have a situation up here."

Two pairs of eyes instantly looked toward the monitor (Suu never looked away.) to see that their target had entered a parking lot and come to a halt. "It's about time," Kitsune said. They watched as Jimmy got off his bike and removed his helmet, and they barely had time to recognize the ninja outfit he wore before he took to the shadows.

"Switching to Infra-Red," Sean said, the image on the screen becoming tinted immediately thereafter. This way, they were able to continue tracking Jimmy's movements as he made his way an additional block and a half before stopping at one office building in particular.

"Here we go," Kitsune said as Jimmy approached the building's entrance. "The show begins." With seemingly little difficulty, Jimmy opened the lock and gained entry.

"Adding X-Ray," Sean said. With his announcement, his vision turned purple by the combination of the two enchantments. With them, everyone was able to watch as Jimmy made his way through the office building, either neutralizing or bypassing every security measure that stood in his way.

"Well, he's good at what he does, I'll give him that much," Kitsune muttered. Motoko was thinking along similar lines, but given the circumstances, she was not about to say so out loud.

After a while, it became apparent that Jimmy's path through the building was not a random one, as he quickly found a safe located on the tenth floor of the twelve-story structure. Upon cracking the safe, he found it filled with cash and other assorted items. After taking what valuables he could carry, he covered his tracks and made his way up to the roof. Getting down to ground level like only a ninja can, he returned to his motorcycle and drove off into the night, all without alerting anyone in the immediate area of his presence or actions.

"Okay," Kitsune said. "He should be back within half an hour. That'll give us plenty of time to head over to his house and surprise him. Now, how should we go about confronting him…?"

"We will not be doing anything," Motoko said, her words catching everyone by surprise. "I will do this myself."

"What are you talking about?" Kitsune asked. "I was the one who told you about this whole thing, remember?"

"Yes, and I thank you for that, but your involvement will no longer be necessary. Jimmy is my boyfriend and I will deal with his actions my own way." She turned her gaze to Suu. "I assume you have been recording this?"

"Of course," Suu said. "I'll have a DVD made for you in no time." She suppressed a yawn. "In the morning."

Motoko nodded and took her leave of the inventor's room. She started to make her way to her own quarters, but was stopped halfway there by someone placing a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, Kitsune?" Motoko asked without turning around.

"Are you sure you don't want to be a part of this investigation anymore?" Kitsune asked.

"That is what I said," Motoko said. "I was not trying to mislead you."

Kitsune's eye twitched. There were few things she hated more than being out of the loop on anything going on around her, and being snubbed after all the effort she put forth really got under her skin. However, she also knew how stubborn Motoko can be at times and she figured the swordswoman would not be swayed on this matter. "At least tell me what his excuse is when you confront him."

"…We shall see," Motoko said after a couple moments. "Goodnight, Kitsune."

With that abrupt end to their conversation, Motoko and Kitsune went to their respective rooms for the night, leaving Sean to wonder if he had been forgotten completely.

---

The week progressed as normally as could be expected. Sean and Suu went about their daily business as though nothing was going on. Meanwhile, Motoko bided her time, waiting for the right opportunity to make her move, her inaction driving Kitsune crazy from the suspense. Thankfully, she would not have to wait very long.

Friday morning, Motoko went over to Jimmy's house under the pretense of doing some sparring. In doing this, she secretly hoped to bring up his indiscretions without it sounding random. However, when she arrived, she found her lover getting into his car--wearing a suit of all things. When asked, he said he had to go to a business meeting and would be gone until late that afternoon. As Motoko watched him pull out of the driveway, she considered this latest bit of information. By the time he was out of sight, she had an evil grin on her face.

--- Friday, 3/4 5:49 PM

As soon as Jimmy pulled into the garage, he knew something was amiss. "Hmm," he thought out loud. "This should be interesting." Grabbing his suitcase, he got out of his car and entered his house proper, making his way to the living room, where he knew a certain someone was waiting for him.

"Hello, Jimmy," Motoko said, leaning against the back of the couch.

"Hello yourself," Jimmy said. "How did you get in here?"

"I have my ways," Motoko said. There were many words that could describe the way she grinned just then. Friendly would not be one of them. "Of course, you know much more about being sneaky than I do."

"Where are you going with this?" Jimmy asked. "If this is about me breaking into Sean's room, I--"

"No," Motoko cut in. "I am referring to a more… recent event."

Jimmy arched an eyebrow. "How recent?"

"Earlier this week," Motoko said. "Monday night to be exact. If, by chance you have forgotten…" She reached into the folds of her gi and pulled out a DVD. "…I'd be happy to remind you."

Needless to say, Jimmy was surprised. "How did you find out about that? For that matter, how did you get me on tape?" he asked, though he already had his suspicions.

"I believe there are more important things you should be concerned about," Motoko said. "Like which body part I will be removing as punishment for your transgressions." For added effect, she rested a hand on the hilt of her sword.

"Now, Motoko," Jimmy said, now starting to get worried. "Don't do anything hasty. Let's be rational about this."

"Did nobody tell you?" Motoko said, still grinning. "I have a history of irrational behavior, especially when it comes to males suspected of delinquent behavior." Normally, she would never bring up such a thing, but she felt it would work to her advantage in this case.

"If you'll just let me explain, I'm sure we can come to an understanding," Jimmy said.

"I'm listening."

"When I first moved to Japan, I hadn't given much thought to a job, but while I set up my security system, I had an epiphany--I had just found my calling. From there, I started advertising my services in various business circles."

"This still does not explain why you broke into that office building," Motoko said. "Why not just ask for the layout or something?"

"I do, but it doesn't quite compare to me seeing it for myself," Jimmy said. "And before you ask, I plan everything out with the company before I do anything."

"So the woman you were talking to wasn't an accomplice?" Motoko asked, still somewhat skeptical. "She worked for the company?"

"Exactly," Jimmy said, not bothering to ask how she knew about that. "In fact, I just came back from a meeting with that very company, where I've been submitting my ideas."

"You know, you could have told me all of this a lot sooner," Motoko said.

"I could have, but I wasn't sure you would have approved."

"It is better than finding out this way," Motoko said. "And I believe it is time you were punished for hiding this from me." With that, she grabbed Jimmy by the collar.

"Hey, hey, can I change out of this monkey suit first?" Jimmy asked as Motoko half-dragged him out of them room.

"We can have it repaired when I am done," Motoko said. When she looked back, Jimmy saw Motoko's smile get more sinister than it had been, if that was even possible. "Now, I do not want to hear a word from you unless I say so, am I clear?"

"Yes, ma'am." As Motoko led him towards his home dojo, Jimmy couldn't help but wonder what the swordswoman had in store for him--and whether he should be dreading it or not.

End of Chapter LXVI

Please R&R and let's hope I get the next chapter up in less than a year.


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